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When U.S. air force discovered the flaw of averages
https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2016/01/16/when-us-air-force-discovered-the-flaw-of-averages.html
He decided to find out. Using the size data he
had gathered from 4,063 pilots, Daniels calculated the average of the
10 physical dimensions believed to be most relevant for design,
including height, chest circumference and sleeve length. These formed
the dimensions of the “average pilot,” which Daniels generously defined
as someone whose measurements were within the middle 30 per cent of the
range of values for each dimension. So, for example, even though the
precise average height from the data was five foot nine, he defined the
height of the “average pilot” as ranging from five-seven to five-11.
Next, Daniels compared each individual pilot, one by one, to the average
pilot.
Before he crunched his numbers, the consensus
among his fellow air force researchers was that the vast majority of
pilots would be within the average range on most dimensions. After all,
these pilots had already been pre-selected because they appeared to be
average sized. (If you were, say, six foot seven, you would never have
been recruited in the first place.) The scientists also expected that a
sizable number of pilots would be within the average range on all 10
dimensions. But even Daniels was stunned when he tabulated the actual
number.
Zero.
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