value that appears most often in a set of data

In statistics, the mode is the value that appears most often in a set of data values. If X is a discrete random variable, the mode is the value x at which โ€ฆ Wikipedia
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org โ€บ wiki โ€บ Mode_(statistics)
Mode (statistics) - Wikipedia
January 26, 2005 - In statistics, the mode is the value that appears most often in a set of data values. If X is a discrete random variable, the mode is the value x at which the probability mass function P(X) takes its maximum value, i.e., x = argmaxxi P(X = xi). In other words, it is the value that is most likely ...
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Encyclopedia Britannica
britannica.com โ€บ science โ€บ mathematics
Mean, median, and mode | Definition & Facts | Britannica
November 7, 2025 - The median is the middle value in a list ordered from smallest to largest. The mode is the most frequently occurring value on the list. ... There are other types of means. A geometric mean is found by multiplying all values in a list and then ...
Discussions

What is the purpose of the "mode" in statistics?
Suppose you have a set of numbers like: 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7. The mean (which is 4.33...) tells you what the arithmetic average number of your set of numbers is. The mean is highly sensitive to "outliers." Meaning, if you have a fairly large number (and the rest of your numbers are small or vice versa, really), it greatly affects the mean. Check it: take a set of numbers like 1, 2, 3. Find its mean (the mean is 2). Then check the mean of 1, 2, 3, 94. You'll get 25. It drastically changed the value! The median tells you what number lies in the middle of your set of numbers. So in this case, the number 5 is the middle number (there are four numbers to the left and four numbers to the right). The median can be fairly deceptive when working with these types of problems because you could have 1, 3, 100 as your set of numbers, in which case 3 would be the median. Knowing that 3 is the median here doesn't tell you too much other than that it's in the middle. The mode is a bit nicer in that it's just the most common number in your set of numbers, so in this case we'd get a mode of 6. Even mode has a drawback: what if all of your numbers only show up once? Well, you didn't really learn anything new about the set of numbers. Each of these has its drawback, but sometimes you can extract information like: what is the "most likely" number to be picked out of our set of numbers? The mode. Or if I kept picking numbers, what would be their average value? The mean. Or if I lined up the numbers, what number is in the middle? The median. At first glance, the mode is the one that is most applicable, and often the utility of these three make a lot more sense when dealing with probability functions (like when dealing with what is known as the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution ). Edited for a little clarity. More on reddit.com
๐ŸŒ r/math
16
4
October 23, 2010
ELI5: What is mean, mode and median from a practical perspective?
Letโ€™s take a set of 5 number (2, 2, 4, 6, 8). The mode is the most frequent number, so it would be 2. The median is the โ€˜middleโ€™ number, as you said the 50th percentile, so if you arrange the numbers in order then go to the middle number, so at itโ€™s a set of 5 numbers we would go to the third, so it would be 4. The mean is mathematical average, for this you add up all the numbers in the set, then divide by the numbers in the set. So 2+2+4+6+8=22, then we divide this by 5, so 4.4 These three approaches are all ways to describe a set of numbers without having to see the full set of data, however it does mean some detail is lost More on reddit.com
๐ŸŒ r/explainlikeimfive
9
5
May 11, 2020
What is mode?
the mode is the value that appears the most often. if you graphed a distribution it would be the "peak" More on reddit.com
๐ŸŒ r/askmath
12
0
July 23, 2024
ELI5: What is the difference between mean, median, and mode?
Mean is all numbers added together then divided by how many numbers there are. Median is the number in the middle when you arrange a set of numbers from least to greatest. Mode is the number that appears most often in the set More on reddit.com
๐ŸŒ r/explainlikeimfive
10
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November 2, 2020
People also ask

What is the mode in math?
In mathematics, the mode is the value that appears most frequently in a data set. It is a measure of central tendency used to identify the most common or repeated number among a group of numbers. Unlike the mean and median, the mode can be used for both numerical and categorical data. For example, in the set {2, 2, 3, 5, 7}, the mode is 2 as it occurs more times than any other number.
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vedantu.com
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What is Mode in Maths? Definition, Formula & Easy Examples
What is example mode?
An example of mode is found by looking at a set of numbers and finding which value repeats the most. For instance, in the data set {4, 6, 8, 6, 7, 6, 9}, the number 6 appears three times, making it the mode. The mode helps in identifying the most popular or frequent item in a collection.
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vedantu.com
vedantu.com โ€บ maths โ€บ what is mode in maths?
What is Mode in Maths? Definition, Formula & Easy Examples
How is mode different from mean and median?
Mode is the value that appears most frequently in a data set.Mean is the average of all values, calculated as $\text{Mean} = \frac{\text{Sum of all values}}{\text{Number of values}}$.Median is the middle value when the values are arranged in order.All three are measures of central tendency but highlight different aspects of the data.
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vedantu.com
vedantu.com โ€บ maths โ€บ what is mode in maths?
What is Mode in Maths? Definition, Formula & Easy Examples
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Twinkl
twinkl.ca โ€บ teaching-wiki โ€บ mean-median-mode-and-range
How to calculate the Mean, Mode, Median and Range in Maths
Twinkl's Teaching Wiki gives explanations of common terms and key vocabulary used in teaching, and shows related Twinkl resources for each term.
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Investopedia
investopedia.com โ€บ terms โ€บ m โ€บ mode.asp
Mode: What It Is in Statistics and How to Calculate It
July 14, 2025 - The mode is a statistical term for the value that occurs most frequently in a set of numbers. Learn about the difference between the mean, median, and mode.
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Statistics Canada
www150.statcan.gc.ca โ€บ n1 โ€บ edu โ€บ power-pouvoir โ€บ ch11 โ€บ mode โ€บ 5214873-eng.htm
4.4.3 Calculating the mode
The mode canโ€™t be used a measure of central tendency because there is more than one mode. Itโ€™s a bimodal distribution. ๏ปฟ ยท The following data set represents the number of touchdowns scored by Jerome in his high-school football season: 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 2, 3, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 1, 0. Letโ€™s compare the mean, median and mode.
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24HourAnswers
24houranswers.com โ€บ technical-tutoring-tips โ€บ The-Mode-in-Math-Definition-And-How-to-Calculate-it
The Mode in Math - Definition And How to Calculate it
November 29, 2022 - Whether reading or watching the news, figuring out probabilities yourself, or simply solving a math problem, you need to understand how different ways of sorting through data and identifying key patterns can be done. And that's where mode in math can be incredibly useful. Together with the mean and median, the mode is one of the three main measures of central tendency, which indicates the value at the center of a data set.
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VEDANTU
vedantu.com โ€บ maths โ€บ what is mode in maths?
What is Mode in Maths? Definition, Formula & Easy Examples
January 30, 2021 - In mathematics, the mode is the value that appears most frequently in a data set. It is a measure of central tendency used to identify the most common or repeated number among a group of numbers.
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Dictionary.com
dictionary.com โ€บ e โ€บ average-vs-mean-vs-median-vs-mode
"Mean," "Median," And "Mode" โ€“ What's The Difference? | Dictionary.com
December 10, 2024 - The mode of a set of values is the most frequently repeated value in the set. To illustrate the difference, letโ€™s look at a very simple example. Hereโ€™s an example set of seven values: 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9. To find the mean: add up all the ...
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Reddit
reddit.com โ€บ r/math โ€บ what is the purpose of the "mode" in statistics?
r/math on Reddit: What is the purpose of the "mode" in statistics?
October 23, 2010 -

Does it serve any purpose that the mean and median don't? What can it show us? Sorry, I might have missed this lesson in precal...

Top answer
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Suppose you have a set of numbers like: 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7. The mean (which is 4.33...) tells you what the arithmetic average number of your set of numbers is. The mean is highly sensitive to "outliers." Meaning, if you have a fairly large number (and the rest of your numbers are small or vice versa, really), it greatly affects the mean. Check it: take a set of numbers like 1, 2, 3. Find its mean (the mean is 2). Then check the mean of 1, 2, 3, 94. You'll get 25. It drastically changed the value! The median tells you what number lies in the middle of your set of numbers. So in this case, the number 5 is the middle number (there are four numbers to the left and four numbers to the right). The median can be fairly deceptive when working with these types of problems because you could have 1, 3, 100 as your set of numbers, in which case 3 would be the median. Knowing that 3 is the median here doesn't tell you too much other than that it's in the middle. The mode is a bit nicer in that it's just the most common number in your set of numbers, so in this case we'd get a mode of 6. Even mode has a drawback: what if all of your numbers only show up once? Well, you didn't really learn anything new about the set of numbers. Each of these has its drawback, but sometimes you can extract information like: what is the "most likely" number to be picked out of our set of numbers? The mode. Or if I kept picking numbers, what would be their average value? The mean. Or if I lined up the numbers, what number is in the middle? The median. At first glance, the mode is the one that is most applicable, and often the utility of these three make a lot more sense when dealing with probability functions (like when dealing with what is known as the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution ). Edited for a little clarity.
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One advantage of the mode is that it can be used for qualitative data (e.g., political alignments) where mean and median don't make sense.
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Cuemath
cuemath.com โ€บ data โ€บ mode
Mode - Formula, Meaning, Example | How to Find Mode?
It is defined as the value that is repeatedly occurring in a given set. That means, the value or number in a data set, which has a high frequency or appears more frequently is called mode or modal value.
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Purplemath
purplemath.com โ€บ modules โ€บ meanmode.htm
Mean, median, and mode: they're ALL averages...? | Purplemath
To find the median, your numbers have to be listed in numerical order from smallest to largest, so you may have to rewrite your list before you can find the median. The "mode" is the value that occurs most often.
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Mathnasium
mathnasium.com โ€บ blog โ€บ what-is-mode-in-math
What Is Mode in Math? A Middle-School-Friendly Guide
July 21, 2025 - ... The mode is the value that appears most often in a dataset. For example, if you have the dataset consisting of numbers: 3, 7, 7, 2, and 5โ€”which number shows up the most? ... Mean: The mean is the average of a dataset.
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org โ€บ mathematics โ€บ mean-median-mode
Mean, Median and Mode | Definition & Formula with Examples - GeeksforGeeks
They provide useful insights into the data by identifying its average value (mean), middle value (median), and most frequent value (mode). These measures are used in all kinds of real-life situations, such as finding the average salary of employees, ...
Published ย  1 week ago
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BBC
bbc.co.uk โ€บ bitesize โ€บ articles โ€บ z3t4g7h
Mean, median, mode and range - BBC Bitesize
January 2, 2024 - This suggests that the scores of the students are similar in English and Maths. However, looking at the actual scores, you can see that this is not the case. ... The medians, \(73\) and \(78\) suggest that the students generally scored less well in English. This is partly true, but there are also some much higher scores. The median is only a measure of the middle value, as there will be the same number of values above and below this middle value. ... The modal score for each subject \(96\) and \(78\) suggests that the students did better in English however this is only considering the two top marks in English and you have no information about the scores of the other students.
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Math is Fun
mathsisfun.com โ€บ definitions โ€บ mode.html
Mode (Illustrated Math Dictionary)
Illustrated definition of Mode: The number that appears most often in a set of numbers. Example: in 6, 3, 9, 6, 6, 5, 9, 3 the Mode is 6 (it...
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CalculatorSoup
calculatorsoup.com โ€บ calculators โ€บ statistics โ€บ mean-median-mode.php
Mean, Median, Mode Calculator
November 4, 2025 - Arrange data points from smallest to largest and locate the central number. This is the median. If there are 2 numbers in the middle, the median is the average of those 2 numbers. The mode is the number in a data set that occurs most frequently.
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Calculator.net
calculator.net โ€บ home โ€บ math โ€บ mean, median, mode, range calculator
Mean, Median, Mode, Range Calculator
This calculator determines the mean, median, mode, and range of a given data set. Also, learn more about these statistical values and when each should be used.
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Scribbr
scribbr.com โ€บ home โ€บ central tendency | understanding the mean, median & mode
Central Tendency | Understanding the Mean, Median & Mode
June 21, 2023 - Mode: the most frequent value. Median: the middle number in an ordered dataset. Mean: the sum of all values divided by the total number of values. In addition to central tendency, the variability and distribution of your dataset is important ...
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Laerd Statistics
statistics.laerd.com โ€บ statistical-guides โ€บ measures-central-tendency-mean-mode-median.php
Mean, Mode and Median - Measures of Central Tendency - When to use with Different Types of Variable and Skewed Distributions | Laerd Statistics
The mean is being skewed by the two large salaries. Therefore, in this situation, we would like to have a better measure of central tendency. As we will find out later, taking the median would be a better measure of central tendency in this situation. Another time when we usually prefer the median over the mean (or mode) is when our data is skewed (i.e., the frequency distribution for our data is skewed).