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> On average, 80 percent of the cases he reviewed were denied. What does this mean? Is it 80% of "average" cases? Or is it simply 80% of all cases and the "On

• thaumasiotes 8y ago
  It means one of two things: - Of the cases he reviewed since 2013, approximately 80% were denied. This would, as you note, be better phrased as "80 percent of the cases he reviewed were denied". - Each year since 2013, he reviewed an unknown number of cases, and a certain percentage of those cases were denied. The arithmetic mean of those 6 yearly percentages is approximately 80%. In the second case, the 80% figure is meaningless, but it's a calculation people often perform despite that fact.