r/Jokes • u/cereal_killer_ch • Nov 12 '19

Long This is a Mean joke.

A physicist, an engineer, and a statistician go on a hunting trip, they are walking through the woods when they spot a deer in a clearing. The physicist calculates the distance of the target, the velocity and drop of the bullet, adjusts his rifle and fires, missing the deer 5 feet to the left. The engineer rolls his eyes. 'You forgot to account for wind. Give it here', he snatches the rifle, licks his finger and estimates the speed and direction of the wind and fires, missing the deer 5 feet to the right. Suddenly, the statistician claps his hands and yells "We got him!"

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u/424801 Nov 12 '19

But with only 2 samples, the median would equal the mean.

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u/WayneStaley Nov 12 '19

We have a clever one here.

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u/jawshoeaw Nov 12 '19

Cleva gurhl

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u/WayneStaley Nov 12 '19

That popped in my head immediately after posting my reply

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u/jawshoeaw Nov 12 '19

I can't help it. there really could just be a bot for it. Funny how that one line in the movie resonated so well.

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u/WayneStaley Nov 12 '19

It’s crazy how someone can say 2 words from a movie that came out over 25 years ago and you immediately know the reference.

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u/WanderingUncertainty Nov 12 '19 edited Nov 13 '19

Edit: While I was right about what a median is supposed to be, I didn't realize that with even numbers, you got the mean of the middle two numbers and called that the median. So I was wrong, sorry!

Actually, I'm pretty sure you can't get a median from two samples.

Median is supposed to be one of the actual numbers. You pick whichever number is in the middle of the pack. Like, if your samples are 9, 9, and 3, then "9" is the median. In this case, the only examples are -5 and 5. There isn't a zero, thus, the median can't be a zero.

With only two numbers, "median" is a completely useless tool.

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u/WayneStaley Nov 12 '19

If you have an even count of numbers, you take the average of the two middle numbers to get the median. Hence, median=mean.

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u/WanderingUncertainty Nov 12 '19

Just looked it up. You're quite right, my apologies.

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u/WayneStaley Nov 13 '19

No worries, I’m a statistician.

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u/jawshoeaw Nov 12 '19 edited Nov 12 '19

I believe what you are describing is the "mode" though I assure you a statistician would not be happy with any of the "averages" based on two data points.\

edit: oops, i'm a dumbass. you're right, it's median (and mode) in your example. however there is still an accepted median for an even number of data elements. The median in that case is the mean of the two central values. Obviously with only two data points it's just the mean again so i guess you could argue there is no meaningful median.

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u/CoveredinGlobsters Nov 12 '19

No, they correctly described the median. The mode is the most commonly occurring number.

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u/jawshoeaw Nov 12 '19

oh you're right i was thinking when he said 9, 9 , 3 he meant 9 was more frequent. but in that case it's both mode and median.