The man in the street is not au fait with "au fait" either. Are you suggesting that someone should give priority to learning the meaning of "au fait" instead of "median"?
I strongly agree. Too many people jump to the rating and make an instant buy, no buy decision without reading the review. The reason for a rating may not have anything to do with your intended use of the camera. It sounds like there are too many mathematicians/engineers not take pictures but falling in love with the technology. I know since I was an engineer for 40 years and recognize the symptoms.
If so, popular usage is wrong.
Let's get this straight.
Simply put, your last statement is wrong. Even that wikipedia page, despite its inaccuracies, does not support your last statement. "Average" is not a synonym for "measure of central tendency." Average and median are two distict and different measures of central tendency.
So the question is perfectly valid: is DPReview's usage of the word "average" in keeping with the technical community? I tend to think it isn't, many think it is, but it's a valid question, isn't it? What makes the OP so wrong in posing the question?
Average IS an equivalent of "measure of central tendency" - what gives you the idea that it is not? Average is a broad term that includes a whole host of measures. An arithmetic median is a kind of average. An arithmetic mean is a kind of average.
Consider this analogy:
There is nothing wrong with the question. The OP's expectation of what "average" should mean is wrong. Only Phil knows what he means by "average."
I have taken more courses in statistics than the average Ph.D. in math. What gives you the idea that "average" and "measure of central tendency" are synonymous?
Wrong.
Average is not a category that includes median.
Well, since you have neglected to give any evidence other than "I know more than you", here is what exactly gives me that idea: all of the leading sources defining average in this way:
You didn't ask for evidence. I told you why I disagreed with you.
Those sources do not give evidence of typical usage. It is my experience that, by far, the most typical usage for "average" is to denote a sum divided by the number of terms. Also, the others posters who similarly differentiate between "average" and "median" comprise a poll giving strong evidence of such typical usage.
Any idiot can write for wikipedia and there are news stories of this actually happening. That opening sentence is poorly written and ambiguous. Average, mean, or central tendency do not necessarily refer to the SAME measure. In particular, the statistical definition of "mean" is very specific and unambiguous. It is the first moment of the probability distribution. (This definition is missing from that wikipedia page.) However, "central tendency" is not a specific measurement as shown by the table titled "Measures of Central Tendency." I have no argument with that table, however, had that table been titled "Averages" that would have been atypical usage.
No, the wikipedia site doesn't because it is ambiguous, and, none of those sites provide evidence of most typical usage for "average." I am telling you that the most typical usage, by far, of "average" is to denote a sum divided by the number of terms. In statistics, "average" is most typically replaced by "sample mean" because the average is the mean of the sample distribution. In statistics, "mean" is unambiguously defined as the first moment of a probability distribution function. Also, in statistics, "expectation" is a synonym for "mean" but it has nothing to do with the layman's "expectation," nor is it necessarily an expected value.
Now you're talking about something completely different - you're using what the general public mistakes as for the term "average", which is fine. Most of the general public doesn't even know what a median or mode is, and just takes mean to define average.
A rather sweeping statement. It may be true for mathematicians and formally trained statisticians, but probably not for the run of the mill scientist or academic.
Statisticians rarely say "average" (period). I couldn't find "average" or "averages" in the index of the two statistics textbooks I examined. In my experience, when statisticains say "average", it is usually applied to non-random variables such as "average distance" which is in keeping with my definition or its integral counterpart.
I didn't say that. I have a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and I have published a few papers of statistical nature in signal processing journals, e.g., see http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?tp=&arnumber=17548 . This indicates that I have experience with popular term usage by statisticians in practice.
He assigned "above average" to the incredibly lousy Fuji S3, also. My opinion of the S3 isn't bad because of the image quality, but for the ancient and incredibly slow processing and the horrible Nikon body used. It was 4 years old the day it made it's debut on the market. At that time and pricing point in the DSLR world, the S3 was most certainly NOT above average.
