average

The word average has different meanings:

• In the sense of mediocrity , it generally denotes an average quality or quantity.
• In mathematics and statistics, average can mean the mean value , whereby the arithmetic mean is differentiated from the geometric mean and the root mean square .
• In set theory, the intersection of two sets is referred to as the average .
• In the context of graphic representations, a sectional representation ( section for short ) can also be meant. This is how Johann Georg Sulzer defined in his General Theory of Fine Arts (1771) the average in architecture:

"The drawing of a building, which presents its internal structure as if it had been cut through along its entire length or width from top to bottom and the front half removed."

• In printing technology, it describes a specific arrangement of individual, repeated print motifs (the benefit ) on a larger print page (print sheet).
• It is an earlier name for the cutting tool used to manufacture coin blanks (see e.g. Weimar Mint ).

etymology

The word average originated in the 16th century by nouncing the verb cut through . It was initially used in the sense of "cutting through (two lines)", " diameter ". Since the 17th century it has also been understood as the graphic representation of a cut body, the sectional representation . In the 18th century there was a transfer of meaning to the mean within arithmetic , as the mean value of several values. In this context there is also the origin of the adjective average , often with the slightly negative connotation as "just average" .

See also

• Average symbol (⌀), to symbolically identify an arithmetic mean or diameter
• Weighted mean

Web links

Wiktionary: Average  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ average. In: Digital dictionary of the German language . Retrieved November 13, 2019
2. ↑ average. In: Digital dictionary of the German language . Retrieved November 13, 2019
3. ^ Ilja Nikolajewitsch Bronschtein , Konstantin Adolfowitsch Semendjajew : Taschenbuch der Mathematik . Harri Deutsch, 2008, p. 332 .
4. ↑ average. In: Digital dictionary of the German language . Retrieved November 13, 2019
5. ↑ Johann Georg Krünitz : Economic Encyclopedia , or General System of the State, City, House and Agriculture, in alphabetical order . 9th part: De-Dy . Joachim Pauli, Berlin 1785, p. 774 ( books.google.de ).
6. ↑ average. In: Duden "Etymologie" - dictionary of origin of the German language. 2nd Edition. Dudenverlag, 1989.