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In an increasingly data-driven world, it is more important than ever for students as well as professionals to better understand basic statistical concepts. 100 Questions (and Answers) About Statistics addresses the essential questions that students ask about statistics in a concise and accessible way. It is perfect for instructors, students, and practitioners as a supplement to more comprehensive materials, or as a desk reference with quick answers to the most frequently asked questions.
What Is the Mode, and How Is It Computed?
What Is the Mode, and How Is It Computed?
The mode is the value that occurs most frequently in a group of values, and it is computed by counting the number of times a value appears and identifying the one that occurs most frequently.
For example, look at the following set of values. Here we are defining a value as the label attached to a particular outcome—in this case, different colors.
Red | Blue | Blue | Gray | Violet |
Yellow | Blue | Blue | Gray | Violet |
Yellow | Blue | Blue | Gray | Violet |
Yellow | Blue | Gray | Violet | Violet |
Blue | Blue | Gray | Violet | Violet |
If you count the frequency that each value appears, you end up with the following:
Value | Frequency |
Red | 1 |
Yellow | 3 |
Blue | 9 |
Gray | 5 |
Violet | 7 |
The most frequently occurring value is Blue (which appears nine times), so the mode is the value Blue.
One of the most common errors made regarding the mode is reporting the mode as the frequency with which a value occurs rather ...
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