Geometric Mean

Definition

Geometric Mean. Mean that indicates the central tendency or typical value of a set of numbers by using the product of their values (as opposed to the arithmetic mean which uses their sum)

The geometric mean is defined as the nth root of the product of n numbers. A geometric mean is often used when comparing different items - finding a single 'figure of merit' for these items - when each item has multiple properties that have different numeric ranges. For example, the geometric mean can give a meaningful 'average' to compare two companies which are each rated at 0 to 5 for their environmental sustainability, and are rated at 0 to 100 for their financial viability. If an arithmetic mean were used instead of a geometric mean, the financial viability is given more weight because its numeric range is larger - so a small percentage change in the financial rating (e.g. going from 80 to 90) makes a much larger difference in the arithmetic mean than a large percentage change in environmental sustainability (e.g. going from 2 to 5).

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This entry annotates a FIBO Ontology Class. FIBO is a trademark and the FIBO Ontology is copyright of the EDM Council, released under the MIT Open Source License. There is no guarantee that the content of this page will remain aligned with, or correctly interprets, the concepts covered by the FIBO ontology.