MathsDirect

Averages

MathsDirect

You will be familiar with the 3 types of average used in statistics, the mean, median and mode. By far the most important average is the mean, then the median. Very little needs to be said about the mode.

Go to Tutorial on the mean

Go to Tutorial on the Median

The Mode

The mode or modal class, is simply the result that occurs the most times. For example

Size	4	5	6	7
Frequency	11	15	14	10

The mode in this case would be size 5, as this has the highest frequency.

Should two groups have the same frequency, then they should be quoted separately as the mode. For example

Size	4	5	6	7	8
Frequency	12	8	11	12	7

In this case the mode would be given as size 4 and size 7.

Notice that I have used discrete data for the mode. You are only likely to use the mode for discrete variables. For example, when stocking a shop, you would need to know the most popular styles/sizes. The mode would give you a better indication of this than either the mean or median. For general statistical purposes however, the mode is rarely used.

Mean Tutorial

Median Tutorial

Statistics Tutorial Contents