Skip to content
Statistics logo
  • Courses
    • See All Courses
    • Calendar
    • Intro stats for college credit
    • Faculty
    • Group training
    • Credit & Credentialing
    • Teach With Us
  • Programs/Degrees
    • Certificates
      • Analytics for Data Science
      • Biostatistics
      • Programming For Data Science – Python (Experienced)
      • Programming For Data Science – Python (Novice)
      • Programming For Data Science – R (Experienced)
      • Programming For Data Science – R (Novice)
      • Social Science
    • Skillsets
      • Bayesian Statistics
      • Business Analytics
      • Healthcare Analytics
      • Marketing Analytics
      • Operations Research
      • Predictive Analytics
      • Python Analytics
      • R Programming Analytics
      • Rasch & IRT
      • Spatial Statistics
      • Survey Analysis
      • Text Mining Analytics
    • Undergraduate Degree Programs
    • Graduate Degree Programs
  • Partnerships
    • Higher Education
    • Enterprise
  • Resources
    • About Us
    • Blog
    • Word Of The Week
    • Newsletter signup
    • Glossary
    • Statistical Symbols
    • FAQs & Knowledge Base
    • Testimonials
    • Test Yourself
  • Student Login

Harmonic Mean

Statistical Glossary

Harmonic Mean:

Harmonic mean is a measure of central location. The harmonic mean Math image of Math image positive values Math image is defined by the formula

Let the path between two cities Math image and Math image be divided into Math image parts of equal length. One drives the Math image th part at velocity Math image . Then, the average speed on the whole journey is the harmonic mean Math image of velocities Math image .

The harmonic mean is sensitive to a single small value - Math image tends to be small if at least one of the values Math image is abnormally small. (In the above example, this corresponds to very slow driving through one of the road parts, leading you to spend most of the journey on this part of the path).

For this reason, the harmonic mean is often used, for example, to aggregate scores in different types of activity to a single final score, e.g. to estimate students´ performance. This ensure that no partial scores are radically lower than the final score.

See also Mean values (comparison) .

Browse Other Glossary Entries

Courses Using This Term

Return to Glossary Search

About Statistics.com

Statistics.com offers academic and professional education in statistics, analytics, and data science at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of instruction. Statistics.com is a part of Elder Research, a data science consultancy with 25 years of experience in data analytics.

Our Links

  • Contact Us
  • Site Map
  • Explore Courses
  • About Us
  • Management Team
Menu
  • Contact Us
  • Site Map
  • Explore Courses
  • About Us
  • Management Team

Social Networks

Linkedin-in Twitter Facebook-f Youtube

Contact

The Institute for Statistics Education
2107 Wilson Blvd
Suite 850 
Arlington, VA 22201
(571) 281-8817

ourcourses@statistics.com

  • Contact Us
  • Site Map
  • Explore Courses
  • About Us
  • Management Team

© Copyright 2022 - Statistics.com, LLC | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

By continuing to use this website, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.

Accept