Given a set $S$, a function $M: S\times S \rightarrow S$ is a mean if it satisfies the properties:
$M(a,a)=a$
$M(a,b)=M(b,a)$.
and possibly
$M(M(a,b),M(a,c))=M(a,M(b,c))\qquad$ (weak associativity)
$M(M(a,b),M(c,d))=M(M(a,c),M(b,d))\qquad$ (strong associativity)
$a\ne b \implies a\ne M(a,b)\ne b\qquad$ (sharpness).
When $S$ is an abelian groupoid or an ordered set or a topological space, $M$ can have additional specific requirements, such as:
$M(ac,bc)=cM(a,b)\qquad$ (homogeneousness)
$a < b \implies a\le M(a,b) \le b\qquad$ (order preservation)
continuity.
In general (3) does not imply (4) as can be seen in this example for $S=\{a,b,c,d,e\}$:
$$ \begin{array}{c|ccccc} M & a & b & c & d & e\\ \hline a & a & a & a & a & a\\ b & a & b & d & c & a\\ c & a & d & c & b & a\\ d & a & c & b & d & e\\ e & a & a & a & e & e\\ \end{array}$$
where $M(M(b,c),M(d,e)) \ne M(M(b,d),M(c,e))$.
Here are some of the questions that come to mind.
Q1. Is there a finite example where (3) and (5) hold, but not (4)? I know that $S$ will need to have at least 6 elements.
Q2. Does $M$ in the above example naturally extend to a mean in $\mathbb{R}[a,b,c,d,e]$ where both (3) and (6) hold?
Another example: if $A$ and $G$ are the arithmetic and geometric means on $\mathbb{R}^+$, it's easy to check that the mean function $M(x,y)=G(A(x,y),G(x,y))$ satisfies all the properties except (3) and (4).
Q3. Assuming all of the above properties except (4) hold for $M$ on $\mathbb{R}^+$, does (4) follow?
Q4. My starting point leading to this post: if all the above properties, including (4), hold for $M$ on $\mathbb{R}^+$, does it follow that $M$ is equivalent to the arithmetic mean, in the sense that $M(x,y)=f^{-1}\big(\frac{f(x)+f(y)}{2}\big)$ for some continous strictly monotonic function $f: \mathbb{R}^+ \to \mathbb{R}$?
I welcome suggestions for improvements to this post and references to relevant work.
UPDATE. If $M(x,y):=f^{-1}\big(\frac{f(x)+f(y)}{2}\big)$ then notice that we can translate and rescale $f$ and the equality still holds. Now we try to build $f$. To start, we are allowed to assume $f(1/2)=1/2$ and $f(2)=2$. The graph of $f$ can then be constructed in the following way, as per Eric Wofsey's comment below: for each 2 consecutive known points $(x_1, y_1=f(x_1))$ and $(x_2, y_2=f(x_2))$ build an intermediate point $\big(M_f(x_1,x_2), \frac{f(x_1)+f(x_2)}{2}\big)$. By density of the dyadics in $\mathbb{R}$ and properties (5), (7) and (8) of $M$, this procedure defines $f$ in the interval $I=[1/2,2]$. Associativity (hopefully in its weak form) should then be used to prove that the same procedure applied to 2 overlapping subintervals of $I$ yields identical results on the intersection. Finally, if that worked, conclude the proof by defining a second $f$ on $[1/4,4]$. This second $f$ can be translated and rescaled to satisfy $f(1/2)=1/2, f(2)=2$ and must then match the original $f$ in $[1/2,2]$. Repeating this step will extend $f$ to $\mathbb{R}^+$.