[header] How to lie with statistics [title] Understand the terminology. [step] The word " average " gets thrown around an awful lot when statistical data are being discussed. At first glance, the term sounds straightforward enough: the average is the amount that falls roughly in the middle. 
However, there are actually few different types of averages, all of which can be misleading if not properly understood. [substeps] The mean average is reached by adding up all the numbers in a data set and dividing them by the number of entries in the set.