What Is the Median in Statistics

It’s the midnight showing of the newest hit movie. People are lined up outside the theater waiting to get in. Suppose you’re asked to find the center of the line. How would you do this? There are a couple of different ways to go about solving this problem. In the end you would have to figure out how many people were in the line, and then take half of that number. If the total number is even, then the center of the line would be between two people. If the total number is odd, then the center would be a single person. You may ask, What does finding the center of a line have to do with statistics? This idea of finding the center is exactly what is used when calculating the median of a set of data. What Is the Median? The median is one of the three primary ways to find the average of statistical data. It is harder to calculate than the mode, but not as labor intensive as calculating the mean. It is the center in much the same way as finding the center of a line of people. After listing the data values in ascending order, the median is the data value with the same number of data values above it and below it. Case One: An Odd Number of Values Eleven batteries are tested to see how long they last. Their lifetimes, in hours, are given by 10, 99, 100, 103, 103, 105, 110, 111, 115, 130, 131. What is the median lifetime? Since there is an odd number of data values, this corresponds to a line with an odd number of people. The center will be the middle value. There are eleven data values, so the sixth one is in the center. Therefore median battery life is the sixth value in this list, or 105 hours. Note that the median is one of the data values. Case Two: An Even Number of Values Twenty cats are weighed. Their weights, in pounds, are given by 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10, 11, 12, 12, 13. What is the median feline weight? Since there is an even number of data values, this corresponds to the line with an even number of people. The center is between the two middle values. In this case the center is between the tenth and eleventh data values. To find the median we calculate the mean of these two values, and obtain (78)/2 7.5. Here the median is not one of the data values. Any Other Cases? The only two possibilities are to have an even or odd number of data values. So the above two examples are the only possible ways to calculate the median. Either the median will be the middle value, or the median will be the mean of the two middle values. Typically data sets are much larger than the ones that we looked at above, but the process of finding the median is the same as these two examples. The Effect of Outliers The mean and mode are highly sensitive to outliers. What this means is that the presence of an outlier will dramatically affect both of these measures of the center. One advantage of the median is that it is not influenced as much by an outlier. To see this, consider the data set 3, 4, 5, 5, 6. The mean is (34556)/5 4.6, and the median is 5. Now keep the same data set, but add the value 100: 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 100. Clearly 100 is an outlier, as it is much greater than all of the other values. The mean of the new set is now (34556100)/6 20.5. However, the median of the new set is 5. Although the Application of the Median Due to what we have seen above, the median is the preferred measure of average when the data contains outliers. When incomes are reported, a typical approach is to report the median income. This is done because the mean income is skewed by a small number of people with very high incomes (think Bill Gates and Oprah).

African American And Middle Eastern Slavery - 963 Words

A common occurrence in the twentieth century historiography of American and Middle Eastern slavery is to downplay the significance of African societies as major players in the international trade network, while ignoring the slave trade’s effect on cultures throughout Africa. Paul Lovejoy attempts to highlight these connections by examining how the demand for slaves in the export market altered local political economies and drastically changed the practice of slavery throughout Africa. Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa is a synthesis work, covering multiple regions of the continent over a span of five hundred years, beginning in the fifteenth century. It is an impressive piece of historical scholarship that describes the ripple effect made by the international slave trade on nearly every society in Africa, even those with limited European contact. Despite several intriguing and logical arguments, the book displays moments of inconsistency. His definitio n of a slave is too narrow for his application of it, his synthesis approach results in frequent generalizations, and by assuming total domination of the enslaver over the enslaved he denies any possibility of slave agency. Lovejoy’s definition of slavery changes based on his needs, and he rarely applies it to his analysis of Africa’s internal market. Sometimes it is rather limited, leaving the reader to wonder if any but the harsher slave societies would qualify, while in practice, particularly whenShow MoreRelatedRacial Profiling : The National Institute Of Justice Essay1311 Words   |  6 Pagesback to slavery. Racial profiling has recently started being recorded, which is why it has become such a huge national issue today, because people can no longer ignore it. This issue is not specific to one race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin. 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Bouncers Essay Free Essays

BOUNCERS BOUNCERS John Godber’s play, ‘BOUNCERS,’ was written and performed in the year 1977 and captures the generalised stereotypes of a group of Bouncers, Girls and ‘Lagalads’ on a night out in the town. With only four members in the cast, Godber cleverly directs the performance to be comedic and easily understandable through the actors’ characterisation and clever use of lighting and set. The play takes you through a typical Friday night in town at a club called ‘asylum,’ which creates a strong reference suggesting it is a place where all the ‘crazy’ people go. We will write a custom essay sample on Bouncers Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now It begins with each of the four bouncers individually walking on stage with a solid posture as a Bouncer. Each one would then suddenly break out into a dance move; the first bouncer was able to ‘lock and pop’ really well and as each one came out, the worse they got, immediately connecting with the audience as they found it hilarious. This is one of Godber’s techniques to keep the audience engaged at all times, as jokes are told that the audience understand and can relate to, ultimately making the performance more enjoyable for both the actors and audience. The play then continues on to tell the story in episodes due to its episodic structure, about a group of four girls who are preparing for a night out. Godber’s use of clean transitions allowed the plot to unfold fluently; the only four objects on stage (four beer barrels), were collected by the actors whilst they spoke, and two actors collected a beer barrel each to be placed into the centre of the stage acting as chairs and then would continue on to the next scene, making it clear to the audience that there was a scene change by introducing the characters they were representing. This is one of Godber’s techniques that was influenced by Bertolt Brecht, which is used to stop the audience thinking about what the characters are like and just concentrate on the performance. The lighting between transitions also indicated that there was a scene change, as it would either the whole stage would either be brightly lit or dimmer and more intimate, which is another influence of Brecht’s, as he would contrast and juxtaposition scenes. I found that by introducing the characters, the audience were able to enjoy he performance as they were constantly told who the actors were representing and didn’t get confused. However, I found that because the characterisation between each of the character’s they played was so different and you were able to differentiate between each one easily, the constant introductions were unnecessary. The acting style for all of the actors was very comedic throughout the play. This was portrayed extremely effectively, as their slick comedic timing between lines was fast and sharp making it very humorous. The characterisation of each of the characters also added to the comedy, especially when they were representing the female characters, as their bodies were very relaxed and they used exaggerated feminine gestures. Additionally, their versatile use of vocals created even further humour, as they could be loud and raucous ‘lagalads,’ contrasting to soft and gentle women and this created a lot of enjoyment for the audience, keeping them engaged throughout the whole play. Godber’s choice of a completely open setting worked effectively for this type of performance. The entertainment in the play was purely created by actors themselves, and the set didn’t detract away from this but emphasised it. By being completely open, the audience are able to see the good quality of acting the actors could do as they didn’t have any support from any sort of set. The lighting however, set the scene as much as the actors, as the flashing and changing lights indicated that they were dancing in the club, whereas the solid flickering lights positioned on each actor clearly and effectively indicated that they were portraying a scene on a bus. This scene was also clear due to the actors jiggering up and down and miming holding on to a handle bar above their heads. This effective scene was one of my personal highlights of the play as it was a very clever technique used by Godber and was clearly recognised. My other favourite scene was the hairdressers near the beginning, and particularly in that scene one of the actors using their hands and clicking their fingers behind someone’s another actors head representing a pair of scissors cutting someone’s hair. I found this extremely effective and easily recognisable. I particularly liked the transition between the hairdressers scene into the barbers immediately after, as all of the actors simply stood up out of character and said ‘Barber’s,’ indicating the scene change, and this was emphasised by the physicality dropping from the women into loud and scrambling men. I thoroughly enjoyed ‘BOUNCERS’ due to it’s comedy style and the actor’s excellent acting. As it was very up to date with the choice of music and clubbing scenes, I could engage with the play easily as it is what I am being brought up around in society today and this slowed me to enjoy it even further. How to cite Bouncers Essay, Essay examples