Explorations: Average, Unlike Everyone Else

This exploration will focus on the idea that the word “average” can mean two different things. In one sense, it can mean the most the common occurrence of a thing (for example, if a bar charges $5 for most of their beers, we would say the average price is 5$). On the other hand, Average is a numerical concept of the middle (so if that same bar had a rare, expensive beer that cost $100, the “average price” of a beer in the bar could get inflated up to $10 a beer). The implication is that the term average is contextual. Futrhermore, in a given set, each data point can be unique, yet some can still be considered “average” depending on the context. Take the “average” number from 1 to 100. One could say the closer the number is to 50 the closer to average. Yet each number is still distinct from the group as a whole. Depending on the context, “average” can mean different things.