&gt; you&#x27;d think a math teacher of all people would know not to use &quot;average&quot; when they really mean &quot;median&quot;.<p>I think a math teacher would be well aware that &quot;average&quot; can be used for &quot;median&quot;, &quot;mode&quot;, &quot;arithmetic mean&quot;, or any of the other means (geometric, harmonic, etc.), as well as other computed values that are somewhere in the space bounded by the extremes of a data set, and would likewise be aware that, while in a formal context &quot;average&quot; should -- for that reason -- be avoided in favor of identifying the specific measure more precisely, it was acceptable and unambiguous to use &quot;average&quot; for any of those, including the median, where context made it clear which was intended.