On Feb 5, 2008, at 9:58 PM, Miles Jackson wrote:
>> Hmm, she really needs to study some economics. This would be true if
>> you substituted "mean" for "average."
>
> Most statistics textbooks treat these terms as synonyms. What's the
> other meaning of average?
"Average" is used both as a broad term for measures of central tendency as well as a synonym for "mean." At least that's the way I learned it. In this case, the way NK wrote it - like an inverted Woebegon - would lead a lot of people to scratch their heads. Maybe she and/or the Nation eds were afraid of bringing up the concept of "median" vs. "mean" because it's too geeky. Or maybe they don't really know the diff.
Doug