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In calculus, and especially multivariable calculus, the mean of a function is loosely defined as the average value of the function over its domain. In one variable, the mean of a function f ( x ) over the interval ( a , b ) is defined by: [ 1 ]
2.3 Divisor functions. ... (average value) . If in addition the constant is ... is k-th power free and 0 otherwise. We calculate the average value of ...
In some circumstances, mathematicians may calculate a mean of an infinite (or even an uncountable) set of values. This can happen when calculating the mean value of a function (). Intuitively, a mean of a function can be thought of as calculating the area under a section of a curve, and then dividing by the length of that section.
The average value can vary considerably from most values in the sample and can be larger or smaller than most. There are applications of this phenomenon in many fields. For example, since the 1980s, the median income in the United States has increased more slowly than the arithmetic average of income. [4]
Average of chords. In ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean – the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list.
The arithmetic mean of a population, or population mean, is often denoted μ. [2] The sample mean ¯ (the arithmetic mean of a sample of values drawn from the population) makes a good estimator of the population mean, as its expected value is equal to the population mean (that is, it is an unbiased estimator).
[2] For a number of applications, it is advantageous to avoid the shifting induced by using only "past" data. Hence a central moving average can be computed, using data equally spaced on either side of the point in the series where the mean is calculated. [3] This requires using an odd number of points in the sample window.
For example, the arithmetic mean of 0° and 360° is 180°, which is misleading because 360° equals 0° modulo a full cycle. [1] As another example, the "average time" between 11 PM and 1 AM is either midnight or noon, depending on whether the two times are part of a single night or part of a single calendar day.