The number that appears most often is called the

• A. Mean
• B. Range
• C. Mode
• D. Median

Answer: (C)

The mode is the number that appears most often in a data set. It shows which value is the most common by having the highest frequency. This differs from the mean, which is the average of all numbers, the median, which is the middle value when the data are ordered, and the range, which is the difference between the largest and smallest values. For example, in 2, 4, 4, 7, 9, the mode is 4 because it occurs more times than any other number. Some data sets can have more than one mode if multiple values tie for the highest frequency, or no mode if no value repeats.