# For a finite set of numbers $x_1, \ldots, x_n$, how does $\frac{x_4+\frac{x_3+\frac{x_1+x_2}{2}}{3}}{4}\ldots$ differ from the mean?

I recently had an issue where a function in a programming language was taking the mean of $n$ numbers, $x_1, \ldots, x_n$ as:

$$M_1 = \dfrac{x_4+\dfrac{x_3+\dfrac{x_1+x_2}{2}}{3}}{4}\ldots$$

$$M_2 = \dfrac{1}{n}\sum_{i=1}^nx_i$$

I am wondering if there is a name for such a summation and if there is a theoretical result for how wide the deviation $M_1$ will be from the usual $M_2$? Specifically I had the case that $x_1, \ldots, x_n \in [0,1]$, but am curious about the case where $x_1,\ldots, x_n \in \mathbb{R}$ as well. I am wondering how far it might differ and in what cases results might be similar? Thanks!

• Not a good idea to use displaystyle in titles, and this applies to \dfrac, \dbinom, etc, as well – Namaste Jul 4 '18 at 18:06
• If all but $x_1$ are zero you get $M_1=\frac{x_1}{n!}$ instead $\frac{x_1}{n},$ which is a big difference. – gammatester Jul 4 '18 at 18:08
• Maybe you can add some context about this function in a programming language. I may say that in Machine Learning sometimes some well-known quantities (such as the mean) are understood in different ways. – Gonzalo Benavides Jul 4 '18 at 18:23

$$M_1(x_1, \ldots , x_n) = \sum_{k=1}^{n} \frac{(k-1)!}{n!} x_{k}$$
For $n > 2$, $$0<u_n<1$$
We cannot regard $M_1(x_1, \ldots , x_n)$ as a weighted mean for $n>2$.