On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 06:06:37 GMT, Jose
wrote:

I thought the uS always used median and let the people confuse it
with average. Have they changed?

While such confusion may be to the benefit of some, median is probably a
better measure of what people are trying to measure using it. An
average is easily skewed by a small number of instances of extremely
high values, whereas the median isn't. Put another way, if the top 1%
triples their income while everyone else stays the same, the average
income rises, but the median income stays the same. The "real" income
for most people actually goes down, because wealth is relative (via prices).

I always looked at it the other way around.
Median is the middle number in the set, so whether you have on person
making a million a year or a thousand it counts the same in which case
the average is skewed and the median isn't. OTOH The number of
discrete values in the set can easily skew the median. So I guess it
depends on how the median is determined in this particular case.

Jose