There are many interesting beliefs about humans and animals. Some are true, like dogs being able to detect certain health conditions, and koalas having fingerprints similar to ours. However, some beliefs are not true. One common myth is that the average person swallows about three spiders every year. This isn’t accurate because spiders can sense human vibrations and carbon dioxide, and they usually avoid us.
Hi! I’m Arcadi from MinuteEarth. This story is about statistics and how numbers can sometimes give us the wrong idea about the world. Let’s explore this with a fun example. Imagine that almost everyone on Earth swallows zero spiders each year. Since most people don’t eat any spiders, the average should be zero spiders per year, not three.
Here’s where it gets interesting: there’s a fictional character named Spiders Georg. According to an old internet story, he lives in a cave and eats millions of spiders every day. If we include Georg’s spider-eating habits in our calculations, the average number of spiders eaten per person per year becomes three. But this average, known as the mean, can be misleading because almost everyone eats no spiders at all!
The mean is useful when data is mostly centered around a particular point, like the average height of men, which is about 5’10”. Some people are taller or shorter, but many are around this height, making the mean a good representation of typical height.
However, data doesn’t always follow this pattern. For example, consider the number of cars on a road at different times of the day. There are busy times, like rush hours, and quieter times. If we calculate the mean driving hour, it might be 2 PM, but that’s not typical since few people drive then.
Let’s look at income distribution in the US. The mean income might be around $59,000 a year, but most people earn less, while a few earn much more, raising the mean. This is similar to how Georg affects the spider-eating average. Economists often use the median instead, which is the middle value. In the US, half of the people earn more than $40,000, and half earn less. This is more representative of the average person.
If we apply this to our spider example, the median number of spiders eaten is zero, which makes more sense. The mode, or most common number, is also zero. These methods show that even if Spiders Georg existed, most people don’t eat spiders. So, using the mean isn’t always the best way to describe “average.”
If you’re interested in learning more about data analysis, there’s a great platform called Brilliant. It offers interactive lessons that adapt to your skill level and help you solve problems at your own pace. If you get stuck, there are hints and step-by-step solutions to help you out.
You can try all of Brilliant’s content for free for 30 days by visiting brilliant.org/MinuteEarth. The first 200 people will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.
Thanks for reading!
Research and present on common myths about spiders. Create a poster or a digital presentation to debunk these myths using scientific facts. Share your findings with the class to help everyone understand why these myths are not true.
Using the story of Spiders Georg, calculate the mean, median, and mode of spiders eaten per year if Georg eats millions and everyone else eats none. Discuss how each measure of central tendency tells a different story about the data.
Create a graph that shows the distribution of spider consumption if Spiders Georg is included in the data. Use this graph to explain why the mean can be misleading and how the median and mode provide a clearer picture.
Participate in a debate where you argue for or against using the mean as the best measure of average in different scenarios, such as income distribution or spider consumption. Use examples from the article to support your arguments.
Visit Brilliant.org and explore their data analysis lessons. Try out some of the interactive problems and share one interesting thing you learned with the class. Discuss how these skills can help in understanding real-world data.
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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So there’s a lot of folk wisdom out there about humans and animals. Some of it is true – for example, dogs can detect certain health conditions, and koalas have fingerprints that are quite similar to ours – but others, not so much. For instance, there’s a common belief that the average human swallows around three spiders every year. However, that’s not accurate. Spiders can sense human vibrations and carbon dioxide and generally avoid us.
Hi! I’m Arcadi, and this is MinuteEarth. This is a story about statistics and how easy it is for numbers to distort our understanding of the world around us. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s say that almost everyone on Earth swallows a total of zero spiders per year. Since the vast majority of people don’t eat any spiders, we should average around 0 spiders eaten per year – not three.
But here’s where things get interesting: meet Spiders Georg. We don’t really know much about him, but according to some old internet lore, he lives in a cave and consumes millions of spiders daily. If we average Georg’s yearly spider intake with the rest of the world’s – that is, the total number of spiders eaten divided by the total number of people – we find that on average, each person on Earth does consume three spiders per year.
However, using the number we’ve just calculated – which is referred to as the mean – to represent “average” can be misleading. Almost everyone on Earth eats no spiders at all!
Here’s what’s going on: the mean tends to be more useful in datasets where the data mostly falls around a particular peak, like a chart of men’s heights. Here, the peak is around 5’10”. Some people are much taller or shorter, but many are around that average height. In this case, the mean does a good job describing a typical height.
But data doesn’t always follow that nice one-peaked distribution. For example, consider the amount of cars that use a certain road during different times of the day. We have rush hours in the morning and evening, with quieter times in between. If we wanted to find the “mean” driving hour, we’d find that 2 PM is the average hour to be driving, but that’s not typical since very few people drive at that time.
Now, let’s look at income distribution in the US – that is, how much money people earn in a year. We could say that the mean income for someone in the US is around $59k a year, but when we examine the full data, we see that most people earn less than that, while a few earn significantly more. This drives the mean up, just like Georg did to our spider-eating dataset.
As a result, economists often find it more useful to focus on the median: half of Americans earn more than $40k, and the other half earn less. That’s likely more representative of the average person than the higher earners. If we did the same for our spider-eating dataset, we’d find a median of zero spiders. That feels more useful.
We could also find the most common amount of spiders eaten – the mode – which is also zero spiders. There are many techniques we could use to analyze this data, and they would show that, even if Spiders Georg existed, almost everyone has a spider-free diet. In other words, using the mean to represent “average” isn’t always meaningful.
Any questions?
By the way, there’s a free and easy way to learn more about data analysis. Brilliant is a great platform for learning interactively. Whatever your skill level, Brilliant customizes its content to fit your needs and helps you solve related distribution problems at your own pace. If you get stuck, there are helpful hints and step-by-step solutions to guide you.
You can try all of Brilliant’s content free for a full 30 days by visiting brilliant.org/MinuteEarth or clicking on the link in the description. The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.
Thanks for watching!
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This version removes informal language, jokes, and any potentially confusing or inappropriate references while maintaining the core message.
Spiders – Small arthropods with eight legs, often used in biology to study ecosystems and food chains. – In biology class, we learned how spiders play a crucial role in controlling insect populations.
Average – A number expressing the central or typical value in a set of data, calculated by dividing the sum of the values by their number. – The average height of the plants in our experiment was 15 centimeters.
Mean – The sum of a set of numbers divided by the number of elements in the set, often used to find the average. – To find the mean temperature for the week, we added all the daily temperatures and divided by seven.
Median – The middle value in a list of numbers, which separates the higher half from the lower half. – When we arranged the test scores in order, the median score was 85.
Mode – The value that appears most frequently in a data set. – In our survey, the mode of the number of pets owned by students was two.
Data – Facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis. – We collected data on the growth of plants under different light conditions.
Income – Money received, especially on a regular basis, for work or through investments, often used in statistical studies to analyze economic trends. – The study showed that the average income of families in the area had increased over the past decade.
Distribution – The way in which something is shared out among a group or spread over an area. – The distribution of ages in the classroom was fairly even, with most students being 13 or 14 years old.
Analysis – A detailed examination of the elements or structure of something, typically as a basis for discussion or interpretation. – Our analysis of the survey results helped us understand students’ favorite subjects.
Humans – Members of the species Homo sapiens, often studied in biology for their impact on the environment and ecosystems. – In our biology project, we explored how humans affect biodiversity in local ecosystems.
