On integer-valued means and the symmetric maximum (Q525087)

Assume that \(\mu\) is an averaging function as follows: \[ \mu(a_1,\dots,a_k,a_{k+1},\dots,a_n)=\mu(b,\dots,b,a_{k+1},\dots,a_n)\,, \] where \(b=\mu(a_1,\dots,a_k)\), this property is called \textit{decomposability}, that is, the average of a set of numbers should not change if a subset of it is replaced by its average. If such values of an averaging function belong to \(\mathbb{Z}\), then it is called \textit{integer mean} or \(\mathbb{Z}\)-mean. A \(\mathbb{Z}\)-mean is called \textit{extremal}, if the output depends only on the minimum and maximum input values, i.e., \[ \mu(a_1,\dots,a_n)=\mu(a_1,a_n)\,, \] where \(a_1 \leq a_2 \leq \dots \leq a_n\). A symmetric maximum is a binary operator on \(\mathbb{Z}\) yielding the extremal value of its inputs, i.e., the greatest in absolute value. In this paper, the authors present an infinite family of integer means based on the symmetric maximum and computation rules. They show that for such means, their value depends not only on extremal inputs. Also, the authors state equivalences for decomposability of \(\mu\).