[Maths-Education] Request: references about the history of averages
David A Reid
maths-education@nottingham.ac.uk
Mon, 02 Sep 2002 14:30:57 -0300
I don't know if this helps, but mean has been around a lot longer that
the other two (golden means, arithmetical means, etc.)
The average that "mean" means is the arithmetical mean of a set of
numbers, so that's why we use "mean" for that. "Median" has
meant "middle" for a long time, but I think it was only in the late 19th
century that one of the inventors of Statistics
(Galton?) defined it as the number half the data is less than (or is it
greater than?). A few years later someone else
(Pearson?) defined mode. So the order you list is the same as the
historical introduction of the terms. And also the order of
the frequency of their use in practice in my experience.
Does any of this help?
David
"Mark S. BOYLAN(EDS)" wrote:
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> Hi folks,
>
> I wonder if anyone has any good references about the origins of 'averages'
> (mean, median and mode)in mathematics, , and also their inclusion in the
> school curriculum,
>
> I am interested both in 'raw' history, and also any social/cultural
> analysis - for example why do 'we' in maths ed tend to list them as mean,
> median and mode,
>
> I have some ideas already about that
>
> thanks
>
> Mark
>
> Mark Boylan
> School of Education
> Sheffield Hallam University
> 35 Broomgrove Rd
> Sheffield
> UK
>
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A number making a noise in an examination (7)
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Answer to previous:
It often involves unknown quantities (7)
ALGEBRA