What is the mode in a data set?

The mode refers to the value in a data set that occurs with the highest frequency. It is a measure of central tendency that provides insight into the most common value within a group of observations. Unlike the average, which is calculated by summing all values and dividing by the number of observations, the mode focuses solely on frequency. In a data set, there can be one mode, more than one mode (in the case of multimodal distributions), or no mode at all if all values occur with the same frequency. This definition captures the essence of the mode, allowing researchers and analysts to quickly identify prevalent trends or characteristics in the data.