Does the average age of death mean the mean the median or the mode?

Answer 1

Mean is the mathematical term for the average in a set of numbers. In order to find this, one adds together the numbers and divides by how many there are in total. For instance, in the following set:

2 3 4 4 5 6

2 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 24 and there are 6 numbers --> 24/6 = 4; thus the mean or average is 4.

Mode is the number that appears the most. In this case, that number is also 4 as it appears twice whereas the other numbers appear only once each. In some circumstances, there will be sets of numbers that contain multiple numbers if not all that repeat. When this happens, the rule still applies, the number that repeats the most is the mode.

The median is the number with the middle value when the numbers in the set provided are listed by increasing value (small to large).

If there is an even amount of numbers in a set, then the 2 numbers that are left need to be added and divided by 2 in order to get the mean such as in this example. Crossing out a number from each end leaves only the pair of 4s. Since the numbers are the same, the mean is also 4 (as 4 + 4 = 8/2 = 4), but if the numbers are different, the mean will give an amount that if halfway between the two such as:

2 2 3 4 5 5

the 3 and the 4 are left and 3 + 4 = 7 which when divided by 2 is 3.5, a number in between the 3 and the 4. In even number sets, two numbers will always be left and the same approach is taken.

If there is an odd amount of numbers in a set, then there will only be one number left uncrossed, and this is the median:

1 3 5 6 7

such as in the above example where the 5 if the only number left.