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mean

n. the numerical average of a set of scores, computed as the sum of all scores divided by the number of scores. For example, suppose a health researcher sampled five individuals and found their numbers of hours of exercise per week to be 3, 1, 5, 4, and 7, respectively. The mean number of exercise hours per week thus would be (3 + 1 + 5 + 4 + 7)/5 = 20/5 = 4. The mean is the most widely used statistic for describing central tendency. Also called arithmetic mean; arithmetic average. See also geometric mean; harmonic mean.

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Psychology term of the day

November 18th 2024

co-occurrence

co-occurrence

n. a relation between two or more phenomena (objects or events) such that they tend to occur together. For example, thunder co-occurs with lightning, and in English the letter Q typically co-occurs with the letter U. By itself, co-occurrence does not imply a causal link: For co-occurrence to become covariation, there must be a systematic correlation between both the occurrence of the phenomena and their nonoccurrence. —co-occur vb.