this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2025
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[โ€“] bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 48 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The average person does not have 10 fingers. Maybe the median person, but not the average.

[โ€“] lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Most frequent occurence is the mode. Most ppl have 10. The median would be less than ten, while the mean average is skewed down, I would think, by some people losing fingers as the grow. Having extra fingers is pretty rare. So the mean might be 9.95 fingers, just to toss a number out.

[โ€“] davidgro@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

For 10 to not be the median it would also have to not be the case for the majority of people (just the plurality at best), and while I don't have proof handy I'm pretty sure a vast majority have exactly 10, making that the precise median and the mode. Only the mean would be a different number of digits. (Both definitions)

[โ€“] lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

The median of a data set is the measure of center that is the middle value when the original data values are arranged in order of increasing (or decreasing) magnitude.

So ppl generally have, say, between 2 and 11 fingers. If those were your only 2 data points, the mean would equal the median, and there is no mode.

[โ€“] davidgro@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

Yes, but we don't have only those two points.

It's well known that most people have one specific value, so much so that our entire number system is based on it (literally the base, it's ten)

[โ€“] bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I assume the median and mode are the same value, 10 fingers, but have no data to back that up. I guess saying mode would have been a safer statement to make, but think that even if 49% of people have 0-9 fingers, the median number of fingers would still be 10.

[โ€“] lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

The median of a data set is the measure of center that is the middle value when the original data values are arranged in order of increasing (or decreasing) magnitude.

So ppl generally have, say, between 2 and 11 fingers. If those were your only 2 data points, the mean would equal the median, and there is no mode.

[โ€“] bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 7 hours ago

I was also assuming a sample size of more than two for it to be statically significant.

[โ€“] tetris11@lemmy.ml 2 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

Mode assumes categorical data and is unbounded by range, whereas median makes the most sense for decimal numbers, albeit with rounding in this case

"People have round(median(data)) fingers"

edit: though, if we're counting just fingers and not counting half-fingers, then maybe this really is categorical data (ยฏ\(ใƒ„)/ยฏ?)

[โ€“] lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 8 hours ago

The median of a data set is the measure of center that is the middle value when the original data values are arranged in order of increasing (or decreasing) magnitude.

So ppl generally have, say, between 2 and 11 fingers. If those were your only 2 data points, the mean would equal the median, and there is no mode.