To find the mode of a data set, follow these steps:
- Arrange the numbers in order (either ascending or descending) to make counting easier.
- Count how many times each number appears in the data set.
- The number that appears most frequently is the mode.
For example, in the data set
, the number 6 appears most often, so the mode is 6
. Additional points:
- A data set can have more than one mode if multiple numbers appear with the same highest frequency. This is called bimodal (two modes) or multimodal (more than two modes).
- If all numbers appear with the same frequency, the data set has no mode.
- Mode can also apply to non-numerical data, such as colors or sizes.
- When numbers are grouped (e.g., in ranges), the mode can be the group with the highest frequency.
You can find the mode manually by counting, use an online calculator, or calculate it in Excel using the MODE function
