Exactly. The heavy lifting in this case is being done by the phrase “on average.” They could have just said “a small number of people have WAY more friends than usual.”
> They could have just said “a small number of people have WAY more friends than usual.”
They do say that, but that's a way to explain why the friendship paradox is true. It's not some trivially equivalent statement. If the statements were trivially equivalent, then people wouldn't be complaining that one is counterintuitive while the other is obvious. The whole point is that one fact is a counterintuitive result of another more intuitive fact.
They do say that, but that's a way to explain why the friendship paradox is true. It's not some trivially equivalent statement. If the statements were trivially equivalent, then people wouldn't be complaining that one is counterintuitive while the other is obvious. The whole point is that one fact is a counterintuitive result of another more intuitive fact.