Descriptive Statistics: The median

0:00 Introduction
1:02 Definition
4:48 Mean vs Median
8:52 Challenge Question

Series music by Purdy.
Song: 3 Friends to the Stars

[aryanstanley]

I would say this is especially relevant when looking at salaries. The average (mean) salary in a country could increase significantly if only the few top earners had their salaries increased. However, the median would barely change at all. Makes a big difference when politicians or economists refer to "average salaries" increasing, as it could mean almost nothing for those not in the top high-earning brackets.

[abishekraju]

This is amazing. Simply amazing. I have no words to describe how intuitive you made statistics for me. You have a gift of simplifying things to great detail and the ability to do justice to teaching this subject. I've only rarely come across such great teachers and every time their skillfulness amazes me. Thanks a lot.

[tanmaychandak]

while choosing a college, looking at their median package offered in placements would give a better picture than mean package offered

[xatarskoftespie]

Salaries and Car prices were the first things that came to my mind.

[vivekupadhyay]

In calculating per capita income, instead of mean, median would be a good measure in order to determine country's earning capability.

[denismcsweeney]

Another scenario would be the time taken for the Newcastle to Sydney train to arrive at Central Station. The median time would be around 5 minutes after the scheduled time while the average time would be closer to 10 minutes after the scheduled time when factoring in all the delays.

[burtharris]

Median would be preferable in describing measurements of elapsed time, e.g. how long to walk a mile. More generally, when there is a hard limit on one end of the distribution (zero on elapsed time), the median is usually more indicative.

[hecker]

Great explanation here! I’d say household income is right skewed.

[stevefirsake]

Median - removing outliers (clouds and bad pixels) in satellite imagery temporal collections (scenes) over a region.

[ebtisamhussien]

I think the median will be a great choice in any skewed data . For Example salary distribution, Students grades, ETC . Consequently *any skewed data is a good example*

[roshnkhan]

The average speed, or harmonic mean, of Roshan's morning cycle can be calculated as follows:

First, calculate the total distance traveled in each stage:

Stage 1:
Climb: 10 km/h * 0.5 hours = 5 km
Descent: 50 km/h * 0.5 hours = 25 km
Total: 5 km + 25 km = 30 km

Stage 2:
Flat cycle: 40 km/h * 0.5 hours = 20 km

Next, calculate the total time spent in each stage:

Stage 1: 0.5 hours
Stage 2: 0.5 hours
Total: 0.5 hours + 0.5 hours = 1 hour

Finally, calculate the harmonic mean of the average speed:

Harmonic Mean: Total distance / Total time = (30 km + 20 km) / 1 hour = 50 km/h

So, Roshan's average speed is 50 km/h.

[sajalsingh]

the packages offered by companies during campus placement, one should look at median salary package rather than average package because the average package could significantly increase if some students have bagged the very high packages, so by looking at mean we will not get correct state of placements in that college

[subhanmehdizade]

GDP of different countries located in the different political-economics area
Bank investment rate

[magaliortega]

I think a good example would be when calculating the average IQ of a population sample. One high IQ might increase the mean, meanwhile the median would be representing more "fairly" let's say.
Anyway, THANK YOU!!! I wish every teacher on the planet would apply your method.

[AhsanIftikharQureshi]

Prices of different finished good (irrespective of the different categories, however, in some cases within the same category also there is significant variation)

[arnabdas]

In my understanding, per capita GDP is mean GDP. I think median GDP would be much more preferable as it would reflect the real life standard of living of the ordinary folks. [The mean incorporates the top 1% and hence pulls the per capita GDP upwards.]

[fikrimulyanasetiawan]

I think median would be preferred to describe the price of a watch. As we know, there are some watch that are very expensive, far expensive from other watch. To describe the price, it would be preferred to use median

[kahanbhalani]

Median would be prefered for finding the central score among a class of students where some high scholar or less scholar students might skew the data. Plz correct me if I am wrong. 🙂

[m.c.degroffdavis]

Median would be preferable in almost any case in which one wants to know the "average" price. For example, if I wanted to know how much a cup of coffee, in general, costs when I go abroad, , the median price will give me a better idea of how much I need. Reasoning, : there are crap cups of coffee (diners, inconvenience stores) and uber-high-end, specialty blends (such as those resulting from the beans that have traversed digestive tracts of small mammals, "harvested, and then finely ground into, what I can only presume, is one of those things one must acquire a taste for).

[nabi]

matchmaking system in games: 2 teams have to fight but one team has (high low low low) players VS (medium medium medium medium) players