Date:         Tue, 15 Feb 2000 15:03:27 -0300
Reply-To:     hmaletta@overnet.com.ar
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Hector E. Maletta" <hmaletta@OVERNET.COM.AR>
Subject:      Re: Harmonic mean
Comments: To: ewalsh@FORRESTER.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

An harmonic mean is the reciprocal of the arithmetic means of
reciprocals. That is, for a variable X, the harmonic mean is H= 1/A
where A stands for: A=(1/N)sum(1/Xi).

For a given collection of numbers, the arithmetic mean is highest, the
geometric mean is intermediate in value, and the harmonic is the lowest
of the three. Just as the arithmetic mean is strongly affected by
extremely high values, the harmonic mean is strongly affected by
extremely low values of the variable.
The geometric mean, of course, is the nth root of the product of n
values.

Hector Maletta
Universidad del Salvador
Buenos Aires, Argentina

ewalsh@FORRESTER.COM wrote:
>
> Hello,
> Could anyone please tell me what a harmonic mean is? Thank you!
> Ekaterina O. Walsh, Ph.D.
> Analyst
> Technographics Data & Analysis
> Forrester Research, Inc.