Read averages in agent receipts

An agent receipt says Jane Doe's runs averaged ten items each. You are about to describe one of those runs as having about ten items. Does the receipt give you enough to say that?

The mean can be taken as properly computed and still leave that question open. It describes a group through one number. It does not show how closely the group's members sit around that number.

Every receipt line below is invented. Here, Jane Doe names an invented person. The counts concern items per run throughout; the unit does not change.

Name the runs behind the number

Begin with the sentence that carries the average:

Jane Doe's four runs in group A had a mean of 10 items per run.

Read "four runs in group A" as the boundary of the claim. It says nothing yet about runs outside that group. If the receipt says only "average: 10," ask which runs it includes before using the number in your own sentence.

Next, find the rule used to combine those runs. Here, "mean" means adding the four item counts and dividing the total by four. Each run has the same weight. You are taking that arithmetic as given, rather than inspecting the calculation.

An average that gives each run the same weight and an average formed by giving some runs more weight would answer different questions. If that choice is unclear, ask: "Which runs are included, and does each run have the same weight?" You need that much context to say what the number describes.

A receipt can be saved with the .md ending. Read about Markdown files if that ending is unfamiliar. The reading task here is to keep the number attached to its named group.

Put two groups with the same mean beside each other

Suppose the agent gives you these counts:

Jane Doe's group A: 9, 10, 10 and 11 items across four runs. Mean: 10 items per run.

Jane Doe's group B: 1, 1, 1 and 37 items across four runs. Mean: 10 items per run.

Both groups contain forty items across four runs. Yet their individual counts tell different stories.

In group A, the smallest count is nine and the largest is eleven. All four counts sit near ten. The gap from smallest to largest is two items.

In group B, the smallest count is one and the largest is thirty-seven. The gap is thirty-six items. Three runs have one item each; the remaining run accounts for thirty-seven of the forty items.

The mean alone leaves out that spread. Reading only "10 items per run" would give you no way to distinguish these groups. Read the counts before treating a shared average as shared behavior among the individual runs.

Keep a sentence about one run tied to that run

Consider a sentence you might write after reading group B's receipt:

Jane Doe's runs each contained about ten items.

That sentence does not fit the four counts. No run in group B contained ten items. Three contained one, and one contained thirty-seven. The group mean has been stretched into a statement about each run.

A narrower sentence fits what you have:

Jane Doe's group B averaged ten items per run; its individual counts were 1, 1, 1 and 37.

You can also say that the runs differed widely in item count, because you now have the values showing the gap. You could not draw that conclusion from the average alone.

If your decision concerns the second run, ask for the second run's count. Knowing the group mean does not settle whether that particular run contained one item, ten items or some other number. Keep the group statement until you have the individual value you need.

Match the extra detail to your decision

For these four-run groups, the four counts are enough to compare how tightly the values sit together and identify the smallest and largest. An account of every action within each run would add detail beyond that question.

For a larger group, first decide what you intend to say. A claim about the smallest and largest counts calls for those two values. A claim about runs falling below ten calls for their count and the total number of runs. The extremes alone cannot tell you the count of runs near ten.

Avoid turning a question about one average into a demand for every detail the agent has. Ask for the group and rule when their meaning is unclear. Then ask for the particular values needed to settle your sentence.

When discussing several receipts, identify the file holding the group you mean. Use a distinct file name to keep your question about group B apart from group A; read Markdown naming choices for ways to distinguish names.

Leave the average at the size of its claim

After reading the counts, return to the sentence you intended to write. "Group B averaged ten items per run" fits the mean. "Each run had about ten items" does not fit the individual counts. "The next run will have ten items" goes beyond both the mean and the four observed values.

The example uses short quoted receipt lines. Receipts may also contain Markdown code blocks; their appearance does not add information about the values behind an average.

Keep what the number tells you, and leave the rest open until you have the needed values. An average can describe the group without describing a single member of it.

Where Sashmark fits

Desktop plans for Sashmark pair reading Markdown with text edits; Sashmark remains in development. AI isn't included. Your agents write the receipts; you decide what their averages mean.