Final answer:
The center value of data in statistics is represented by the mean, median, and mode, with each serving different purposes for analyzing the data. The mean provides a general average, the median offers a middle value especially helpful in skewed distributions, and the mode identifies the most frequent value.
Step-by-step explanation:
The center value of a data set in statistics is typically represented by measures such as the mean, median, and mode. The mean is calculated by adding all the values in a data set and dividing by the number of values, and it is often referred to as the average.
The median is the middle value when a data set is ordered from least to greatest, and it serves as a better representation of the center when there are outliers. The mode is the most frequently occurring value in a data set, which can be useful in certain contexts but may not accurately represent the center if the data set is uniform or has no repeats.
For example, if we have a data set with an even number of values, like 14, we calculate the median by taking the average of the two middle numbers. If the two middle values are 6.8 and 7.2, the median would be (6.8 + 7.2) / 2, resulting in 7. When there is an odd number of values, the median is simply the middle number in the ordered list.