Average ohms ?

[daiashi]

Had a ? on a test that listed ex. 12,34,34 ohms.They asked for
the average.I assume to add all three and divide by 3,as you
would for finding the average of any set of numbers.

 

[480sparky]

That's my take on it..... 26.66666.

But what do I know?

 

[gar]

080512-1730 EST

I think that is a very incorrect question to ask.

If the question were asked something like this:
We have a group of 2.7 K 1/4 W resistors from a box. The measured values of three of these are 2725, 2717, 2685. What is the average resistance of this sample?

Otherwise I can assume the question might be asking what is the resistance of the series combination, or the parallel combination. The word average gets used very loosely at times.

In the real world there is not much likelyhood of caring what is the average of three resistor with such a large difference between them. If it had been distances or something else it would have had more real world significance.

.

 

[Lxnxjxhx]

The geometric average would be (12*34*34)^(1/3).

 

[gar]

080513-0819 EST

I think the question was designed to confuse the reader, although we do not know the precise wording of the question.

If the question were written as:
What is the average (arithmetic mean) of the numbers 12, 34, 34?
I believe it would be a clear and unambiguous question.

.

 

[CAPS]

I agree the intent of the question is vague. Another "average" is the mode, the most common element. In the problem (12,34,34) the mode would be 34. This is used in statistics, but not very helpful in electric circuits.