juniorStatistics
What is mean, median, and mode?
Updated May 17, 2026
Short answer
Mean is average, median is middle value, mode is most frequent value.
Deep explanation
Mean summarizes central tendency via sum/number of observations. Median is robust to outliers. Mode captures frequency peak.
Real-world example
Median income is used instead of mean due to outliers.
Common mistakes
- Confusing median with mean in skewed distributions.
Follow-up questions
- When is median better than mean?
- Can a dataset have multiple modes?