NY Times Story on Pilot Population Decline

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).

Jose
--
Get high on gasoline: fly an airplane.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

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

OTOH The number of
discrete values in the set can easily skew the median.

Yes, and so which one is most appropriate would depend on whether a
=value= is likely to change much, or whether the =number= of values is
the important consideration. In the case of income distribution, the
former is probably more important. In the case of school test grades
from year to year, the latter might have more significance.

Jose
--
Get high on gasoline: fly an airplane.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:29:13 GMT, Jose
wrote:

OTOH The number of
discrete values in the set can easily skew the median.

Yes, and so which one is most appropriate would depend on whether a
=value= is likely to change much, or whether the =number= of values is

The problem with income is we don't know if they include every income
that is different than the others or if they put them into brackets.
"I think" it's the latter, but have not been able to find any
information on how they come up with those figures. Most of those
numbers don't have a lot of meaning if we don't know how they are
derived. I remember reading that some incomes are exempt, or not
included.

As the old saying goes, "Statistics don't lie, but statisticians do."

the important consideration. In the case of income distribution, the
former is probably more important. In the case of school test grades
from year to year, the latter might have more significance.

Jose

The problem with income is we don't know if they include every income
that is different than the others or if they put them into brackets.

That only matters when figuring out the mode. For the median, if the
brackets are properly weighted it will work out just fine.

Jose
--
Get high on gasoline: fly an airplane.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

On 4/26/2007 8:13 PM Mxsmanic jumped down, turned around, and wrote:

How much house can you get for $60,000 (1.5 times the average salary in the
U.S.)?

It's not hard to find a house for $60k or even less. It's simply a
matter of where one looks.

What does this have to do with aviation?
--
dgs