Final answer:
The median is a number that measures the center of the data, while the mean is the best estimate for the actual data set. The mode is the most frequent value in the data set.
Step-by-step explanation:
The median is a number that measures the center of the data. You can think of the median as the middle value, but it does not actually have to be one of the observed values. It is a number that separates ordered data into halves. Half the values are the same number or smaller than the median, and half the values are the same number or larger. For example, consider the following data:
A. The mean is equal to the median.
B. There is no first quartile.
C. The lowest data value is the median.
Q₁ +23
The mean and the median can be calculated to help you find the center of a data set. The mean is the best estimate for the actual data set, but the median is the best measurement when a data set contains several outliers or extreme values. The mode will tell you the most frequently occurring datum (or data) in your data set. The mean, median, and mode are extremely helpful when you need to analyze your data, but if your data set consists of ranges that lack specific values, the mean may seem impossible to calculate. However, the mean can be approximated if you add the lower boundary with the upper boundary and divide by two to find the midpoint of each interval. Multiply each midpoint by the number of values found in the corresponding range. Divide the sum of these values by the total number of data values in the set.
Another measure of the center is the mode. The mode is the most frequent value. There can be more than one mode in a data set as long as those values have the same frequency and that frequency is the highest. A data set with two modes is called bimodal.