Mixed unit morale

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:
But what kind of average morale? If as you suggest it isn't weighted, a squad of 24 militia and 1 Emerald Guard should have the same average morale as a squad of 1 militia and 24 Emerald Guards, obviously this isn't the case.

That's...not quite the definition of average I'm used to seeing. You're arguing that the unweighted average income of 35 CEOs and a starving beggar is the same as the average income of 35 starving beggars and one CEO. Obviously, that's not the case!

[Sindai]

NGF seems to be calling "weighted average" what most people would simply call an "average." Maybe I don't have the terms technically straight, but a weighted average would seem to imply some factors beyond simply the values and quantity of numbers involved, since those are already included in an average.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
That's...not quite the definition of average I'm used to seeing. You're arguing that the unweighted average income of 35 CEOs and a starving beggar is the same as the average income of 35 starving beggars and one CEO. Obviously, that's not the case!

It actually is the case, since your not using a very precise definition of average.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Sindai:
NGF seems to be calling "weighted average" what most people would simply call an "average."

Probably - what I mean by weighted average in Norfleet's example, is 35 CEOs weight 35 times more than 1 beggar, thus the weighted average would be (35 x 1M$ + 1$)/36 = 975000$ (approx.)

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:
Probably - what I mean by weighted average in Norfleet's example, is 35 CEOs weight 35 times more than 1 beggar, thus the weighted average would be (35 x 1M$ + 1$)/36 = 975000$ (approx.)

Yes, but 35 CEOs only weigh more than 1 beggar because it's *35* vs *1*. It's not because there's an inherent property of the CEO which causes his income to bear more weight, as weighted average would imply.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
Yes, but 35 CEOs only weigh more than 1 beggar because it's *35* vs *1*.

Isn't that the exact definition of a weighted average?

It's not because there's an inherent property of the CEO which causes his income to bear more weight,

Well, someone could argue that CEOs can afford 3 meals a day precisely because of their income, while beggars spend most of their time on empty stomachs - thus in a sense the CEO's income bears more weight.

as weighted average would imply.

'Weighted average' never implied such a thing. It seems the misunderstanding began when you wrote

I don't think there's any actual weighting: The morale of the squad is simply the average morale of the squad

which made me truly wonder what you meant by 'average'. As it turns out we both meant exactly the same thing. I'll try to be less precise in the future.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:
Isn't that the exact definition of a weighted average?

No, it isn't. I think this may be a translation thing, but where I come from, an "average" of values is equal to the sum of all of the values, divided by the number of values, whereas a "weighted average" assigns an additional term, a "weight" to some, but not all, of the values, thus evaluating the values unequally for the purpose of some bias: For instance, a weighted average score of a single player's per-game kill counts, with more emphasis, more weight, given to his more recent games, because players tend to improve rather than regress, so more recent values are more representative than older values.

If, for instance, larger units had a greater impact on the squad's morale, this would be a weighted average. However, squad morale is simply the summation of the morale values of each individual unit independent of any other factors, divided by the number of units in the squad - it is an unweighted average.