quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
And they all think they are fabulous drivers.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
My Doctor introduced me to this when he said "Half the doctors graduated in the bottom half of their class. I was in the top half."

quote:

Originally posted by bobtheelf:
Half of all people are below average intelligence.

...which is to say there are a lot of stupid people in this world, some of whom you may be acquainted with.

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Originally posted by V-Tail:
Which "average" are we talking about --

• Mean,
  
• Median, or
  
• Mode?
  

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

quote:

Originally posted by bobtheelf:
Half of all people are below average intelligence.

...which is to say there are a lot of stupid people in this world, some of whom you may be acquainted with.

As the 21st century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, reproduced in greater numbers than the rest, a process which had once favored the noblest traits of man, now began to favor different traits. Most science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more civilized and more intelligent. But as time went on, things seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. A dumbing down. How did this happen? Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent to become an endangered species.

quote:

Originally posted by mrmn50:
I am working on being average in height.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
Amazing how many times in response to this statement someone will weigh in with, "Oh, it's at least 80% that are below average".

That's actually possible, if the upper 20% of the sample are drastically higher than the rest. Take for example a series of five numbers:

1, 2, 3, 4, and 25

The average of these numbers is 7. Yet 80% of the numbers are below that average. This occurs because 25 is drastically higher than the other numbers, which skews the average upward.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
Amazing how many times in response to this statement someone will weigh in with, "Oh, it's at least 80% that are below average".

That's actually possible, if the upper 20% of the sample are drastically higher than the rest. Take for example a series of five numbers:

1, 2, 3, 4, and 25

The average of these numbers is 7. Yet 80% of the numbers are below that average. This occurs because 25 is drastically higher than the other numbers, which skews the average upward.

I think whoever decided that, in ordinary English, that the mathematical words 'mean', 'median' and 'mode' can all be called the 'average' should be forced to derive Fermat's Last Theorem in an Taiwanese disco.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
As a cop, I was constantly amazed by people who outwardly appeared to be smart and successful, but were in fact quite stupid. That, combined with a lack of common sense often resulted in disaster.

quote:

"Well, that's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."

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Originally posted by 2BobTanner:
What this thread needs.