Final answer:
The correct answer is option C, the mean, which is what average ordinarily signifies. It is the sum of values divided by the number of values.
Step-by-step explanation:
Median and mode are different measures of central tendency, with median referring to the middle value and mode indicating the most frequently occurring value in a data set.Ordinarily, average signifies the mean when used in the context of statistics and mathematics. The term 'average' is commonly understood as the arithmetic mean, which is calculated by adding all the values in a data set and then dividing by the number of values. This form of average is considered the best estimate for the central tendency of a set of numbers, especially when the data set does not contain outliers or extreme values.
The median is another measure of central tendency that is used when a data set includes outliers or if it is skewed. It represents the middle value when data is ordered from smallest to largest. Unlike the average, it does not take into account the magnitude of the numbers but simply their position.
The mode refers to the most frequently occurring value(s) in a data set. A data set can be unimodal, bimodal, or multi-modal depending on the number of values that frequently appear.
Therefore, when referencing average in a general sense, it typically pertains to the mean rather than the mode or median.