What is the difference between Interval Scale data and Ratio Scale data?

Interval :

● In Interval scale data measurement, we know both the order and the exact differences
between the values eg – temperature (10, 20, 30), time (1pm, 2pm, 3 pm).
● Central tendency can be measured by mode, median, or mean; standard deviation can
also be calculated.
● Problem with interval scales: they don’t have a “true zero.” Eg - no such thing as “no
temperature”, time (nothing like zero time). Zero doesn’t mean the absence of value,
but is actually another number used on the scale, like 0 degrees Celsius.
● Without a true zero, it is impossible to compute ratios.
● With interval data, we can add and subtract, but cannot multiply or divide. Eg – 10C +
20C = 30C but is not 3 times hotter than 10.

● Example : Time is an interval measure

Duration is a ratio measure

Time is an interval measure when using any standard calendar and time measurement
system as there is no fixed start point 2018/10/23:20:10 CE and 2018/10/23:20:20 CE.
There is a 10 second gap but the latter is not twice the former and 2018/10/23:20:10
BCE is not effectively – (2018/10/23:20:10) CE i.e. there is no meaningful 0

Duration (the amount of time something takes) is a ratio measure as it has a meaningful
zero; 20 seconds is twice as long as 10 seconds and 10 days is twice as long as 5 days.

Ratio :

● In Ratio scale data measurement, we know about the order, the exact value between
units, and we also have an absolute zero. Everything above about interval data applies
to ratio scales, plus ratio scales have a clear definition of zero.
● eg - height, weight, and duration, oil prices in exact USD figure over a monthly period
● These variables can be meaningfully added, subtracted, multiplied, divided (ratios). i.e.
we can say that person is twice as tall as that kid.
● Central tendency can be measured by calculating mode, median, or mean; measures of
dispersion, such as standard deviation and coefficient of variation can also be calculated
from ratio scales.
Examples -

1. Temperature measuring on a kelvin scale. – Ratio [The classic example is the Celsius
versus Kelvin temperature scales. On the Celsius scale, a difference of one degree is a
meaningful quantity, but you can't say that 100 degrees Celsius is twice as hot as 50
degrees Celsius because the zero point is arbitrary. On the Kelvin scale, the zero point (-
273 degree Celsius, physically impossible to reach) represents the complete absence of
molecular motion, so you can actually say that 100 Kelvins is twice as hot as 50 Kelvins.]
2. Coli form bacteria counts in drinking water supplies – Ratio

//

For interval scales I can convert from one form of measurement to another by a positive linear
transformation; i.e. y=mx+b, m>0. For a ratio scale I convert with b=0. i.e. y=mx, where m>0.

2)military ranks - Ordinal

3)HIV/AIDS status - Nominal

Is Mean and Average the same?

The mean is almost considered synonymous with average, but statisticians will definitely
disagree, because, in essence, mean is only a form of describing an average.
An average can be described in many ways. Aside from expressing it as the mean of the sample,
it can also be given as the median or the mode.

Median is the central point of the set.

The mode is the value that occurs most frequently in a data set.
The term ‘average’ encompasses several ways to measure what value best characterizes a
particular sample. The terms and measurements that are used will really depend on the
situation. It will greatly be based on how you want describe a certain data set or sample.

Additionally, mean can be in many types as well, e.g. quadratic mean, harmonic mean,
geometric mean, etc. Apparently, arithmetic mean is the only one that distinguishes itself as a
form of average.

Summary:

1. Average can be in mean (arithmetic mean), median, or mode. Mean is basically a form of
describing an average of the sample.

2. Mean can be in many various types too, but only the arithmetic mean is considered as a form
of average.

3. ‘Average’ is usually used in casual English conversation, while ‘mean’ is usually used in
technical language.

The mean is the numerical average. It could be an arithmetical average or a ratio average,
etc. For the arithmetical average, it's simple. Take the total and divide it by the number of
samples.

The median is another kind of average, the number at which half of the other samples are
higher, and half the other samples are lower.

For an example, let's say that you sample five people with five different annual incomes: 10,000,
20,000, 30,000, 40,000 and 1,000,000.

The mean is the sum divided by 5, or 220,000.

The median is 30,000.

The mode is another kind of average, but here it gets a bit twonky. If you have several different
categories, the mode is the category with the most samples. Obviously, it's a lot easier to lie
with this average, as you get to set up the categories.

** In statistics, average is used as a name for a general statistic that usually falls around the
center of the data. Mean, on the other hand, is usually the sum of all values divided by the total
number of values. But this itself applies only for arithmetic means. You can also have differently
defined geometric and harmonic means.
** LAYMAN :

I think mean more often has a quantitative interpretation, while average can mean not only a
quantitative value, but also something that is “common” or “not out of the ordinary” -
an average workload, an average time to cook, an average person. A “mean” person would be
someone who is cruel. An average person doesn’t stand out from the crowd. In educational
settings, “C” is an average grade.

&&

Technically, however, the word "average" is a generic term for any measure of location. So the
mean is an average, but so is the median and the mode.

In fact, the term "mean" itself is somewhat ambiguous as there is more than one. When people
say "mean" they usually mean the "arithmetic mean". But there are also the geometric mean
and the harmonic mean.

Best :

There are three basic kinds of average. The mean is the commonest as used in common
parlance and is the sum of the results of the whole population sample divided by the number of
the population, this average is more applicable to data which change irregularly over time, like
commodities or the stock market. The other two averages are the median and the modal. The
median is the commonest result from the population,which on a 'bell shaped' distribution curve
is seen as the maxima, like salaries or people's height, the modal is the commonest whole
median average that makes sense, for example it makes more sense to say that the average
family has about two children than to say they have 2.4 children, or that men have an average
shoe size of 8 not 8.2.

Another best :

The term "average" usually encompasses several ways to measure what value best represents a
sample. There are various measurements that are used and at times the term and measurement
used depends on the situation.

A statistician or mathematician would use the terms mean and average to refer to the sum of all
values divided by the total number of values, what you have called the average. This especially
true if you have a list of numbers. In fact even in mathematics there are different "averages" or
"means" and this one is more properly called the arithmetic mean.
The quantity obtained by adding the largest and smallest values and dividing by 2, statisticians
call the midrange. There are times however that this is called the mean. For example the
weather office records the "mean daily temperature", which is the sum of the high temperature
and the low temperature divided by 2.

The median is the central point of a data set. To find the median, you would list all data points in
ascending order and simply pick the entry in the middle of that list.

If this is not enough there is another measure. The mode is the value that occurs most often.

For example, consider the following data points: 1,1,2,3,4

The mean or average is (1+1+2+3+4)/5 = 2.2

The median is "2" (the central value).
The mode is "1" (it occurs most often).
The midrange is (4+1)/2 = 2.5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeGksqhpOis

https://www.wikihow.com/Copy-Formulas-in-Excel

https://www.ablebits.com/office-addins-blog/2016/01/20/copy-formula-excel/#copy-formula-
without-changing-references

What is the best way to copy paste the functions which we used in AGE column to
calculate summary statistics for Amount Spent column? Justify your answer.

We have objective of creating a formula which can be used consistently in moving forward. Problem
in using just the excel provided function (like =AVERAGE()) is that the relative position of column at
required destination is different from the positions present in the dataset.

Hence the problem can now be divided in following parts:

1. Finding the relative position of the column for which calculation is required among the
arrays of the column headers of the dataset.
2. Use the column position to acquire the data present below in the column as an array.
3. Pass the acquired array in the desired function.

Now for first point, we can use the function MATCH (=MATCH(lookup value, lookup array,0)) which
will return the column position among the dataset headers. In the lookup value we will provide
reference to the header cell which contains the name. Lookup array will be the first row of the
dataset containing all the headers and absolute reference must be needed to make sure the lookup
value doesn’t change. ‘0’ will be added in the end to make the match exact.

To acquire the values present in a column we wil use the function INDEX (=INDEX(lookup array,
rownum, [column num]))which can either return a single cell or a complete row or column as array.
The lookup array must be provided with absolute reference so that the values to lookup doesn’t
change while moving forward.To get a complete row we will pass zero in its place and value
returned from the match function will serve as the column number.

Once we have the array we can call function of choice (AVERAGE, MEDIAN) and pass the array as the
argument to get the value.

Combining these points result in a function like:

=AVERAGE( INDEX ( LOOKUP ARRAY PASSED AS ABSOLUTE REFERENCE, 0 , MATCH (Cell reference of
the cell containing lookup value, LOOKUP ARRAY PASSED AS ABSOLUTE REFERENCE, 0) ) )

Formulae for summary statics.