Changes

Notice that 22 of the items have values below the average and only 17 have values above it. Thus, 56% of the items have values below the average.

Notice that 22 of the items have values below the average and only 17 have values above it. Thus, 56% of the items have values below the average.

On ''A Prairie Home Companion,'' Garrison Keillor jokes about Lake Wobegon where "all the children are above average." It is not actually possible for all of the items in a set to be "above average." However, it is easy to concoct a highly skewed distribution in which 90% of them are. Imagine a circus act with nine clowns and one macaque monkey, and ask "what is the average weight of the performers in the act?" If the clowns weigh about 150 pounds each and the monkey weighs about 10 pounds, then the average weight of the performers is 1360 pounds / 10 performers = 136 pounds. The monkey is below average, and the nine clowns—90% of the performers—are above average.

On ''A Prairie Home Companion,'' [[Garrison Keillor]] jokes about Lake Wobegon where "all the children are above average." It is not actually possible for all of the items in a set to be "above average." However, it is easy to concoct a highly skewed distribution in which 90% of them are. Imagine a circus act with nine clowns and one macaque monkey, and ask "what is the average weight of the performers in the act?" If the clowns weigh about 150 pounds each and the monkey weighs about 10 pounds, then the average weight of the performers is 1360 pounds / 10 performers = 136 pounds. The monkey is below average, and the nine clowns—90% of the performers—are above average.

==The average as a "balance point"==

==The average as a "balance point"==