What is the mode in a data set?

The mode in a data set is defined as the value that appears most frequently. This means that when you collect a set of numbers, the mode is the number that shows up more often than any other number. For example, in the data set {2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6}, the number 4 appears more often than any other number, making it the mode.

Understanding the mode is important in statistics because it helps to identify the most common value in a dataset, which can be useful in various applications, such as determining popularity, trends, and patterns. The other choices suggest different statistical measures — the average, or mean, pertains to the sum of all values divided by the number of values; the midpoint, or median, refers to the middle value when data is ordered; and the range describes the difference between the highest and lowest values. These measures provide different insights into the nature of the data but do not describe the concept of mode directly.