0

Loosely speaking, the mode is the highest bump, the median is where half the area is to the right and half is to the left, and the mean is where the histogram would balance, were it a solid object cut out of a uniform block of metal

Here is the source.

tchrist
  • 134,759
Lerner Zhang
  • 105
  • 3
    It's creating a counterfactual (using the subjunctive, if you subscribe to the notion of a subjunctive in English). In other words: that were is acting like an if it were, because in reality, the histogram is not a solid object cut out of a uniform block of metal. – Dan Bron Apr 19 '15 at 12:49
  • Related and probable duplicate of one or another of http://english.stackexchange.com/q/1308 http://english.stackexchange.com/q/2631 http://english.stackexchange.com/q/95741 http://english.stackexchange.com/q/95943 http://english.stackexchange.com/q/177784 http://english.stackexchange.com/q/162357 http://english.stackexchange.com/q/233992 http://english.stackexchange.com/q/48819 http://english.stackexchange.com/q/32830 – tchrist Apr 19 '15 at 16:44
  • @tchrist Well-found. I'm VtC as a dupe of your first suggestion. Also, if you have some magic trick which allows you to explicitly add linebreaks in comments (and the fact those links appear each on their own line isn't just an accident or artifact of SE), you have to tell me what it is. – Dan Bron Apr 19 '15 at 16:49

1 Answers1

1

This part is all in subjunctive mood/conditional, indicating the hypothetical:

the mean is where the histogram would balance, were it a solid object cut out of a uniform block of metal

meaning:

the mean is where the histogram would balance, if it [the histogram] were a solid object cut out of a uniform block of metal

or, less formal:

the mean is where the histogram would balance, if it [the histogram] would be a solid object cut out of a uniform block of metal

The "were it" subject-verb inversion devices replaces the "if" conditional construct.

"If it would be" is less formal, and some language boards consider it even incorrect/tolerated.

Marius Hancu
  • 7,714