📂Data Science

Definition of the Mode in Basic Statistics

Definitions¹

When given qualitative data, the category with the highest frequency is called the Mode. In the case of quantitative data, the class with the highest frequency is called the Modal Class.

Description

Literally meaning ’the most frequent value’, the mode disregards all information except for that singular value. Unless dealing with qualitative data, its significance greatly diminishes, making it not so important when handling real data. When viewed through a probability distribution, the mode becomes the point where the probability density function reaches its maximum value.

See Also

• Three Representative Values in Statistics: Mode, Median, Average
  • Average
  • Median
  • Mode
• Mathematical Properties of Representative Values: The mode has the property of minimizing the Hamming Loss.