Mean Vs Average
Hi there! I'm reading a book about statistics and a question popped up in my mind: what's the difference between mean and average?
Can anyone help me out with that? In Portuguese, we only have a word for both ideas.

Thanks in advance :)

Question

Mean Vs Average
Hi there! I'm reading a book about statistics and a question popped up in my mind: what's the difference between mean and average?
Can anyone help me out with that? In Portuguese, we only have a word for both ideas.

Thanks in advance :)

Answer

When I studied maths, I learnt about the difference between "mean" and the "median". We only use the word "mean" (in this sense) in maths.  The "mean" is the mathematically precise average.  In everyday English, we can use "average" to refer to the "mean" but also in more general, non-mathematical contexts e.g. His performance was average.  He is of average height.

Answer

I am not a mathematician but these terms are synonymous. You can use either one

Answer

Average is the more common word, but it is non-mathematical, and it's not formally defined exactly what it is.
You could say that if you don't know or care what the difference between a mean, a median, or a mode are, you just say 'average' and hope that nobody questions any further.

Answers · 6

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