Final answer:
The mean is a number that measures the central tendency or average of a set of data. It is calculated by adding up all the values and dividing by the total number of values.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term mean refers to a number that measures the central tendency or average of a set of data. It is a common way to summarize data and describe its typical value. The mean is calculated by adding up all the values in the data set and dividing by the total number of values.
For example, if we have a data set of test scores: 80, 90, 85, 75, and 95, we can find the mean by adding these values (80 + 90 + 85 + 75 + 95 = 425) and then dividing by the total number of values (in this case, 5), which gives us a mean of 85.
It's important to note that the terms mean and average are often used interchangeably, and the mean is just one type of average. There are other specialized averages like the weighted mean, median, mode, and geometric mean.