In an experiment, the depth of water in a tube is measured and a typical set of measurements for eight tries might be: 28.4, 28.5, 28.5, 28.3, 28.1, 29.0, 28.4, 28.6 cm. The best estimate of the correct answer that we can get from these figures is their average or mean value. But we should also express the precision of the result to indicate how uncertain the average is. Two significant questions may be asked about such a set of figures:   How far from the average is the next measurement likely to be? If we took eight more tries, how different might the new average be?

Definition Definition Measure of central tendency that is the average of a given data set. The mean value is evaluated as the quotient of the sum of all observations by the sample size. The mean, in contrast to a median, is affected by extreme values. Very large or very small values can distract the mean from the center of the data. Arithmetic mean: The most common type of mean is the arithmetic mean. It is evaluated using the formula: μ = 1 N ∑ i = 1 N x i Other types of means are the geometric mean, logarithmic mean, and harmonic mean. Geometric mean: The nth root of the product of n observations from a data set is defined as the geometric mean of the set: G = x 1 x 2 ... x n n Logarithmic mean: The difference of the natural logarithms of the two numbers, divided by the difference between the numbers is the logarithmic mean of the two numbers. The logarithmic mean is used particularly in heat transfer and mass transfer. ln x 2 − ln x 1 x 2 − x 1 Harmonic mean: The inverse of the arithmetic mean of the inverses of all the numbers in a data set is the harmonic mean of the data. 1 1 x 1 + 1 x 2 + ...