This post is in response to Peter’s post introducing the Approximate Geometric Mean.
The approximate geometric mean $\mathrm{(AGM)}$ is a nice approximation of the geometric mean $\mathrm{(GM)}$, but it has some quirks as we will see. After a discussion at the MathsJam gathering, I was intrigued to find out how good an approximation it is.
To get a better understanding, we first have to look again at its definition. For $A=a\cdot 10^x$ and $B=b \cdot 10^y$, we set
\[ \mathrm{AGM}(A,B):=\mathrm{AM}(a,b)\cdot 10^{\mathrm{AM}(x,y)} \]
where $\mathrm{AM}$ stands for the arithmetic mean. This makes also sense when $a$ and $b$ are not just integers between 1 and 10, but any real numbers. Note that we won’t consider negative $A$ and $B$ (i.e. negative $a$ and $b$), as the geometric mean runs into issues if we do so. The values of $x$ and $y$ may be negative, though. The $\mathrm{AGM}$ looks like a mix between the $\mathrm{AM}$ and the $\mathrm{GM}$, so what can possibly go wrong?