There are several different definitions of skewness, which are not
mathematically equivalent. This is clearly not a Good Thing; the
reason that it has worked out like this without the word being
superseded is probably that nobody with experience cares much about
actual measures of skewness in normal situations.
You can compare the popular use of the word "average" to mean "mean",
"median", or even sometimes "mode". They are all measures of location
but are not the same; statisticians tend to avoid "average" as a
result. But as the concept is important new words have grown up that
are not ambiguous.
-Robert Dawson
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