Mean versus Median for those of you interested in statistics

Everything I have read on this forum always references the “average” penis size. “Average” is just the layman’s term for “mean” which is statistically useful if the data is follows a normal distribution. Normally distributed data looks like a bell curve when shown on a graph. I have to assume that penis length data cannot be normally distributed because a penis cannot be smaller than zero, but there is no upper limit on how long a penis can be (at least theoretically). When graphed, this type of data looks like a bell that leans to the left.

A good example of non-normally distributed data would be housing prices. A town may have hundred of homes that sell in the $150K to $300K range, but there are also a handful $500K homes, and a few million-dollar homes. The million-dollar homes cause the average (mean) home value to be much higher than what is really the “middle” home price, so when you hear people talking about home prices, they talk about the “median” home price, not the “average” home price. The median is the middle point of a data set; 50% of the values are below this point, and 50% are above this point. That is not the same as the mean, although the mean and median can be the same if the data is normally distributed.

OK, sorry for the long explanation, but some people don’t understand the difference, and I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page. As I said, since penis length is probably not normally distributed data, all of this talk about average penis size is misleading. The average is being influenced by a relatively small number of really long dicks. The influence of the really long dicks is not offset by really small dicks, because a dick can only be so small. The average dick size is may be 5.88 inches, but that doesn’t mean that if you have a 5.88 inch dick, half of the other dicks are bigger than yours. Most likely, if you have a 5.88 inch dick, your dick is bigger than the median, and you are bigger than most others.

So, here’s the question (finally): Where can I get my hands on the raw data that the Kinsey study, and other have used to determine the average penis size? I work with statistics and I have some cool programs that I can plug the data into to learn all kinds of cool stuff. Most importantly, I would like to find out if the data is normally distributed, and if not, let’s talk about median penis size rather than average penis size.

Well you can look in the PE data base. And do a search for average penis size.

I think normal is about 5” BPEL.

I PM’d Thunder, and he directed me to the forum forum, but I couldn’t find the data anywhere. I’d really like to have the raw data from a study in which the penises were measured by a nurse or someone. Self-measurement would be inherently inaccurate for a study of this type. There would be no way to evaluate the accuracy of the measurements.

Pre PE length
Seems to be fairly accurate despite self measurement, as the average fatpad is 1" and subtracting that from the bone pressed chart seems to match up closely with Para’s thread of many doctor nbp studies that I’m also linking to at the bottom of this list of links.

Pre PE Girth

Penis Size: The True Average (Para’s awesome thread)

Hope that helps.

I question your presumption that penis length data is not normally distributed.

Well, the data will tell. I work with statistics every day, and 95% of the time, when I’m dealing with data that is open-ended on one side, and closed on the other, it is not normally distributed.

I disagree. With many of the pre-PE size polls here, even in the PE database, you notice that both the mean and median are over 6BP. And fewer guys 7.5BP and over, 5BP and lower.

5NBP is about average, but BP is higher IMO.

Sam1966

Who says there no upper limit for penis size?

I studied statistics, so I understand all of this. However, I don’t agree with your conclusions. You did state that you were looking for Kinsey’s breakdown. I had a screen snag of it (because I was unable to save the page offline), but I lost the damn thing.

There’s a lot of rancor here about the validity of Kinsey’s findings. Be that as it may, I distinctly recall two poignant stats:

(1) The most commonly seen measurement was 6” (24%)
(2) 83% of all men were between 5-7 inches.

This meant that 17% of the subjects were either < 5” or > 7” in length. I think that % over 7” may have been greater than the % < 5” (or perhaps they were similar - I can’t remember that).

Nonetheless, if 83% of men were between 5-7”, and a few % (at least) of the men were > 7”, then I would be willing to bet that about 90% of men (give or take a few %) have at least 5 inches. If that is generally the case - and that 6” was seen among 24% of the subjects - then I highly doubt your conclusion “….if you have a 5.88 inch dick, your dick is bigger than the median, and you are bigger than most others.”

Furthermore, there are men who have less than 3 or 4” (putting them about 2-3” below “average”). I doubt that there are enough men with “really long dicks” who could really offset the “average.”

As size is not evenly distributed, it still might be logical that a random man is as likely to be 2” below the standard average as 2” above. Nonetheless, far less 10% of men have “really long dicks.” Factoring in how many men in the world, I doubt their size would have a great influence on the average.

Consider batting averages for a moment. If a hitter goes 1-4 on the opener, he’s hitting .250. But, if he goes 2-3 tomorrow, his average can jump .179 in one game (to .429). Yet, if a full-time position player goes 4-4 in a game in late Sept, his average might only jump a point or 2 (depending, of course, on his total ABs).

Likewise, I don’t believe that the relatively small number of huge guys can dramatically affect the average size of 3 billion men worldwide.

Kinsey Report Penis Size Results

Nice link, been.

My disagreement with his conclusion about 5.88” is validated (at least by Kinsey).

The graph shows that 69.7% of all penises are 6” or more.

I would guess that at 5.88”, Kinsey would’ve shown that 70%+ are actually longer than that.

And that doesn’t strike me as false, either.

Yes wad, but I think sam1966 probably had Lifestyles’ Cancun study in mind as the 5.88” reference point.

Mmm.

I also question his other presumption:

I’ll give you a penis can’t be smaller than zero. But I can’t deal with the idea that there is no upper limit as to how long a penis can be. And who cares about theoretically?

If ever there were a case for practicality, penis size should definitely be included.

I don’t think I’d want a ‘theoretically’ large penis over an actual one of modest size.

A penis, to have any value for me anyway, has got to be in the real world.

Oh, I wasn’t sure where he got that number.

But I know that we’ve tended to have similar opinions on this controversial subject.

But, as with most things in life, I rather be upset by the truth than mollified by a lie.

That’s just how I am. I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy some of the balony being espoused of 5” being the average and what not. Nor do I believe that the guys with the real freak dicks are quite as rare as many here would like to believe. Furthermore, I tend to believe that race does have influence - at the extreme ends of the scale. I do believe that most guys - white and black - are “around 6 inches.” But as that one obscure study I read years ago indicated, the % of 8” cocks among blacks was rougly double that among whites. And none of the black subjects were “tiny” - as are some white men and, supposedly, a larger number of Asian men.

It’s true that we agree a lot.