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“Average” here means arithmetic average.
- You want to maintain a 2000 calorie diet. Today you consumed 4000 calories. Therefore, naturally, tomorrow, you should consume 0 calories. And it all averages out! (Disclaimer: this is not health advice in any way, shape or form.)
- You’re not sure if your use of “your” or “you’re” is correct. Take an “average” and just write you’r from now on.
- You are taking a multiple choice exam with five possible choices, A, B, C, D, and E. The best choice is the average choice “C”. If there were four choices, A, B, C, and D, you should fill in both B and C.
- You are an ornithologist interested in estimating the population of a particular species of bird. You sample 1/10 of that bird’s natural habitat and count 500 birds. Therefore, you conclude that there are, on average, 5000 birds in the entire habitat.
- On average, a fair coin will produce 50% heads, 50% tails when flipped (fairly). You observe 10 consecutive heads. Thus, naturally, (mis)applying the law of large numbers, there is a greater likelihood of observing a tails on the subsequent flip.
- In one year your $10,000 investment in a hot stock turned into $16,000. Therefore, you earned 5% a month, on average.
- What’s the average color, if there are 4-bits each for red, green, and blue? Is it this or this?
- You are a truck driver who frequently has cross country deliveries. The average bridge clearance is 11 feet on the route you have to take. Your truck is 10 feet high. You’ll go under the bridges, on average.
- You are trying to improve your bench press. At the end of the first month you bench 115lbs, at the end of the second month you bench 165lbs, at the end of the third month you bench 205lbs, and at the end of the fourth month you bench 255lbs. Therefore, you bench 185lbs on average.
- You give your students four exams over the semester and average the exam grades as a measure for how much they’ve learned.