alt Hacker NewsTo be pedantic, median is cheaper than sorting. O(n) with a quicksort-like algorithm.
Also, if you're taking an average of floating point numbers, you might want to sort it first and add from smallest to largest, to better preserve precision
To be pedantic, median is cheaper than sorting. O(n) with a quicksort-like algorithm.
Also, if you're taking an average of floating point numbers, you might want to sort it first and add from smallest to largest, to better preserve precision
An aside, but I recently learned -- if one is willing to use a very modest amount of memory -- summing floating-point numbers with no loss of precision is effectively a solved problem with the XSUM algorithm.
https://glizen.com/radfordneal/ftp/xsum.pdf