Finding the Mode from a Table
This section explains how to find the Mode from a table.
What is the Mode?
The mode is the value that appears most frequently in a data set. Unlike the mean (average), which considers all values, the mode focuses only on the most common value. A data set can have:
- One mode (unimodal) if one value appears more often than others.
- Two modes (bimodal) if two values appear with the same highest frequency.
- No mode if no value repeats.
How to Find the Mode of a Data Set
- List the data: Write down all the values in the data set.
- Count the frequency: Count how many times each value appears.
- Identify the most frequent value(s): The value(s) with the highest frequency is/are the mode(s).
For example:
- Data set: 3, 7, 7, 5, 8, 3, 9, 7
- Frequency of 3: 2
- Frequency of 5: 1
- Frequency of 7: 3
- Frequency of 8: 1
- Frequency of 9: 1
- The mode is 7 because it appears 3 times, more than any other number.
Finding the Mode from a Table
Often, data will be given in a frequency table. To find the mode in this case, follow these steps:
- Look at the frequency column: Identify which value has the highest frequency.
- Locate the corresponding value: The mode will be the number or category that corresponds to the highest frequency.
Example: Finding the Mode from a Frequency Table
| Number | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 3 | 5 |
| 5 | 2 |
| 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 3 |
| 11 | 1 |
Check the frequencies:
- The frequency of 3 is 5.
- The frequency of 5 is 2.
- The frequency of 7 is 8.
- The frequency of 9 is 3.
- The frequency of 11 is 1.
Identify the highest frequency: The number 7 has the highest frequency, which is 8.
Conclusion: The mode is 7.
This video explains more about calculating the Mean, Median and Mode.
Key Points to Remember:
- The mode is simply the value that occurs most often.
- In a frequency table, the mode is the number (or category) with the highest frequency.
- A data set can have one mode, two modes (bimodal), or no mode at all (if all values occur with the same frequency).
The mode is a useful measure of central tendency, particularly when you're dealing with categorical data or when there is a value that repeats most frequently.
