Elementary Statistics and Computer Application

Special averages

• In the study of a population with respect to one in which we are interested we may get a large number of observations. It is not possible to grasp any idea about the characteristic when we look at all the observations. So it is better to get one number for one group. That number must be a good representative one for all the observations to give a clear picture of that characteristic. Such representative number can be a central value for all these observations. This central value is called a measure of central tendency or an average or a measure of locations. There are five averages. Among them mean, median and mode are called simple averages and the other two averages geometric mean and harmonic mean are called special averages