Jun 29, 2026, 5:19 PMWhen people put out statistics on "average" costs. Like, say, the "average" cost of a house in a state or city. People will often say the median cost of a house in California is $950,000. Median is often the most useless way to average anything. All it really takes is one asshole with a $500 million house to throw everything off.
Jun 29, 2026, 6:24 PM@Asbestos Technically the median won't get thrown off as much by the $500 million house guy. It's the "mean" that gets thrown off. Median means the one with equal houses more and less expensive, so adding a $500mil house just ticks it one house right. The mean ticks it $500mil right.
Jun 29, 2026, 9:50 PM@cy
I was under the impression that the mean was halfway between the most expensive and the cheapest.
Jun 30, 2026, 2:04 AM@Asbestos Yes, halfway in dollar amounts, so if 9,999 houses are $30 and 1 is 500 million, the mean cost is $50,030. The median cost is the cost of the 5000th house, or $30.