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The Conversation USA

The ‘average’ revolutionized scientific research, but overreliance on it has led to discrimination and injury

  • Written by Zachary del Rosario, Assistant Professor of Engineering, Olin College of Engineering
imageThe average can tell you a lot about a dataset, but not everything. marekuliasz/iStock via Getty Images Plus

When analyzing a set of data, one of the first steps many people take is to compute an average. You might compare your height against the average height of people where you live, or brag about your favorite baseball player’s batting...

Read more: The ‘average’ revolutionized scientific research, but overreliance on it has led to discrimination...

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