Is the "mean" and the "average" any different?

Hi Timothy,

    Generally speaking Average and Mean of n unique (used only once) values is one and

the same thing. Eg:  If we have 1,2,3,4,6,8  then the Mean or Average is simply

the sum divided by the total number of values

    Average or Mean =  (1+2+3+4+6+8)/6 = 4

Now consider a case where you have repetitions of some of values  Eg:- 1,1,1,2,2,3,4,4,6,8

They can be written in a tabular form as shown below

Number          Frequency

                 (No of repetitions)

1                         3

2                         2

3                         1

4                         2

6                         1

8                         1

Here the Average or Mean will not be 4 (in-spite of the same numbers as above). We now

use the Arithmetical Mean is simply the Sum of the product of each number and frequency

divided by the total Frequency

Arithmetical Mean = ( 1x3 + 2x2 + 3x1 +4x2 + 6x1 + 8x1 ) / (3+2+1+2+1+1)  = 32/10  = 3.2

Hope this answers your question. In Tableau calculations there are various instances, when

we do not get the desired Average we seek is we do not add the level of detail correctly.

If we simply put the above Numbers (without their frequency) into a table, we would get

the Average value as 4. Looking at the columns you mentioned, if the values are identical

then it means that the frequency is 1 else some of the values have repetitions.

Here is a graphical representation of the above using Tableau

Note that COUNTD will give 6 whereas COUNT will give 10

Hope this answers your question. Best of Luck !

Sincerely,

Soumitra