mean, median

mean, median
   Two points to note here. First, each of these terms has a very specific definition, but those definitions dont necessarily translate abroad. My faithful first edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, for instance, defines mean as the middle point in a series of numbers, but most British dictionaries define mean as the sum of all numbers in a series divided by the number of numbers-in other words, as average-and that is not the same thing at all. Median on both sides of the Atlantic signifies the middle number of an array of numbers arranged in order of magnitude. The second problem, which is not unrelated to the first, is that both terms are at best vaguely understood by the general reader, and thus your most prudent course of action is to use them extremely sparingly in anything other than technical writing.

Dictionary of troublesome word. . 2013.

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