Is there a particular reason why the harmonic mean would be a particularly suitable tool for combining physical and economic estimates? I’ve spent only a few seconds trying to think of one, failed, and had trouble motivating myself to look harder because on the face of it it seems like for most problems for which you might want to do this you’re about equally likely to be finding any given quantity as its reciprocal, which suggests that a general preference for the harmonic mean is unlikely to be a good strategy—what am I missing?
I recommend doing everything when appropriate.
Is there a particular reason why the harmonic mean would be a particularly suitable tool for combining physical and economic estimates? I’ve spent only a few seconds trying to think of one, failed, and had trouble motivating myself to look harder because on the face of it it seems like for most problems for which you might want to do this you’re about equally likely to be finding any given quantity as its reciprocal, which suggests that a general preference for the harmonic mean is unlikely to be a good strategy—what am I missing?