Mean, median, and mode are three ways to describe the “center” of a set of numbers.

Quick Scoop

  • Mean = “average”: add all numbers, divide by how many there are.
  • Median = “middle”: order the numbers, pick the middle one (or average the two middle ones).
  • Mode = “most often”: the number that appears the most times.

Example data: 4, 8, 6, 2, 10

How to find the mean

  1. Add all the numbers.
    • 4+8+6+2+10=304+8+6+2+10=304+8+6+2+10=30.
  1. Count how many numbers there are.
    • There are 5 numbers.
  1. Divide the total by how many numbers.
    • Mean =30÷5=6=30\div 5=6=30÷5=6.

So the mean of 4, 8, 6, 2, 10 is 6.

How to find the median

  1. Put the numbers in order from smallest to largest.
    • 2, 4, 6, 8, 10.
  1. If there’s an odd number of values, the median is the middle one.
    • Here there are 5 values, so the median is the 3rd value → 6.

If there are an even number of values, the median is the average of the two middle numbers.

Example: 2, 4, 6, 8

  • Middle two are 4 and 6 → median =(4+6)÷2=5=(4+6)\div 2=5=(4+6)÷2=5.

How to find the mode

  1. List or scan the numbers and see which value repeats the most.
  1. That value is the mode.

Example: 4, 8, 6, 2, 10, 8, 8

  • 8 appears three times, more than any other number, so the mode is 8.

Notes:

  • You can have no mode (if nothing repeats).
  • You can have more than one mode (if two or more values tie for most frequent).

Tiny story to remember it

Imagine a classroom:

  • The mean is like the teacher taking everyone’s test scores, adding them up, and dividing to get the class’s “average” result.
  • The median is like lining students by height and picking the one in the exact middle.
  • The mode is like asking, “What shoe size do we see most often in this class?” — that shoe size is the mode.

Quick HTML table summary

[3][5] [5][1] [1][3] [9][5][1] [6][3][1] [6][1]
Measure What it means How to find it
Mean Arithmetic average of the data.Add all values, divide by how many there are.
Median Middle value when data is ordered.Order numbers; if odd count, take the middle; if even, average the two middle values.
Mode Value that appears most often.Find the value(s) with the highest frequency.
**TL;DR:**
  • Mean: add and divide.
  • Median: sort and take the middle.
  • Mode: look for the most frequent number.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.