The **mode** is the value that appears most frequently in a data set. A set of data may have one mode, more than one mode, or no mode at all if all the values occur with the same frequency.
To find the mode, follow these steps:
Step 1: Identify the frequency of each number in the data set. Step 2: Find the number that appears the most times. Step 3: If two or more numbers appear the most times, the data set is multimodal and each of these values is a mode. Step 4: If no number repeats, the data set has no mode.
Example 1: Find the mode of the numbers 3, 7, 5, 3, 1, 3, 9, 5.
Step 1: The frequencies are: 3 appears 3 times, 5 appears 2 times, 7, 1, and 9 each appear once. Step 2: The number 3 appears the most times (3 times).
Mode = 3
Example 2: Find the mode of the numbers 4, 8, 6, 4, 7, 8, 5, 9.
Step 1: The frequencies are: 4 appears 2 times, 8 appears 2 times, 6, 7, 5, and 9 each appear once. Step 2: Both 4 and 8 appear the most times (2 times each).
Modes = 4, 8
Find the mode of the following numbers:
2, 9, 4, 4, 7, 2, 5, 9, 6, 7
Hint: Find the most frequent numbers in the set.