Median, Mean, Range & Mode - How to

Median

Median is the middle number in a set of data, the number halfway into the set. In order to calculate media, the numbers should be sorted from lowest to highest.

If you have the numbers 7, 1, 3, first you'd need to order them as 1, 3, 7.

Mean

Simply put, mean is the average of a data set. Take all of the numbers, add them up, then divide by the number (count).

For example, if you have 3 numbers: 7, 1, 4. First add them all up, 7 + 1 + 4, which equals 12. Now you had 3 numbers total, so divide the calculation by 3. So 12 ÷ 3, which gives you the mean of 4.

Range

Range is the difference between the largest and smallest number in your dataset.

For example, if you have 3 numbers: 7, 1, 4. You'd take the largest number (7), and minus the smallest number (1). So 7 − 1, which gives you a range of 6.

Mode

Mode is the number that occurs most frequently in the data set. In order to have a true mode value, the same number must appear at least twice in the dataset.

For example, if you have 3 numbers: 7, 1, 1. Then the mode is 1 because this number appears the most often (twice).
If you had the dataset of 7, 1, 7, 7, 1 then the mode would be 7, because this appears the most often.