Dave McAllister's session from Monitorama PDX 2023. Quick, what's the difference between the mean, the mode and the median? And which mean do you mean?Do you need a Gaussian or a normal distribution? And does your choice impact the alerts and observations you get from your observability tools? Come get refreshed on the impact some basic choices in statistical behavior can have on what gets triggered. Learn why a median might be the choice for historical anomaly or sudden change. Jump into Gaussian distributions, data alignment challenges and the trouble with sampling. Walk out with a deeper understanding of your metrics and what they might be telling you.