Abstract:
The graph median has recently been proposed as an alternative measure of central tendency in those instances when the arithmetic average is not a part of the data set. This property was illustrated with ternary diagrams by using a series of five three-component compositional data sets all of which had the same mean, but greatly differing patterns in their compositions. For these sets, a comparison of their means and, except for the case in which all compositions (hongite2) fell on the same line, a comparison of their variance would be of no value. Contemplation of this fact, suggested the need for a simple method that determines the extent to which two data sets with several components are coincident.
