In data interpretation, the mean is defined as which of the following?

In data interpretation, the mean is defined as which of the following?

• A. The range
• B. The sum of values divided by the number of values
• C. The median
• D. The mode

Answer: (B)

The mean is the average value of a data set, found by adding all the values and dividing by how many values there are. This uses every data point to pin down the typical level of the data. For example, with values 2, 4, 6, 8, the sum is 20 and the count is 4, so the mean is 5. This differs from the range, which measures how spread out the data are (max minus min); it also differs from the median, the middle value when the data are ordered, and from the mode, the most frequent value. The mean is especially informative when data are fairly symmetric and not heavily skewed, though it can be influenced by extreme values. Since it is defined as the sum of all values divided by the number of values, this is the correct description of the mean.

The mean is the average value of a data set, found by adding all the values and dividing by how many values there are. This uses every data point to pin down the typical level of the data. For example, with values 2, 4, 6, 8, the sum is 20 and the count is 4, so the mean is 5. This differs from the range, which measures how spread out the data are (max minus min); it also differs from the median, the middle value when the data are ordered, and from the mode, the most frequent value. The mean is especially informative when data are fairly symmetric and not heavily skewed, though it can be influenced by extreme values. Since it is defined as the sum of all values divided by the number of values, this is the correct description of the mean.