Re: [igraph] average path length

[Simone Gabbriellini]

Dear Alisa,

I am not an expert in igraph, but in my opinion this is a normal way  
to use an average value...

think about demographic issues, like "Italian women have an average of  
1.2 children each"...

what does it means 1.2 child? a complete child plus two legs?

it is just an average, an ideal-type that you don't expect to find in  
reality.

Best regards,
Simone

Il giorno 23/ago/08, alle ore 00:32, Alisa Coffin ha scritto:

> Dear igraph list,
>
> I was wondering if someone could help me with a response to this
> question that I received from a reviewer.  I reported average path
> length for some graphs, which in one case was given by igraph as
> 43.81249.  I reported it in the manuscript as 43.81.  The reviewer
> asks:
>
> "As I understand this, the units of average path length are edges,
> which are described by integers.  Is it meaningful to say that the
> average of integers is a real number?"
>
> Any thoughts or responses would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Regards,
> Alisa Coffin
>
> --
> Alisa Coffin, PhD. Candidate
> Department of Geography
> University of Florida
> Gainesville, FL 32611
>
>
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