Measures of central tendency are used in descriptive statistics to describe the typical or central value in a dataset. There are three main measures of central tendency: the mean, median, and mode.
Mean: The mean is the arithmetic average of a set of numbers. It is calculated by adding up all the numbers in the dataset and dividing the sum by the total number of values in the dataset. For example, consider the following
dataset of exam scores: 85, 90, 75, 80, 95. The mean of these scores is calculated as (85 + 90 + 75 + 80 + 95) / 5 = 85.
Median: The median is the middle value in a sorted list of numbers. If the dataset has an odd number of values, then the median is the middle value. If the dataset has an even number of values, then the median is the average of the two middle values. For example, consider the following
dataset of exam scores: 85, 90, 75, 80, 95, 85.
The median of these scores is 85.
Mode: The mode is the value that appears most frequently in a dataset. For example, consider the following dataset of exam
scores: 85, 90, 75, 80, 95, 85.
The mode of these scores is 85.
In summary, measures of central tendency provide information about the typical or central value in a dataset. The mean, median, and mode are commonly used measures of central tendency, and each one provides different information about the data. The mean is influenced by extreme values, while the median is not. The mode is useful for identifying the most common value in a dataset.
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