When dealing with statistics and probability, you will need to know about the different ways of comparing and measuring the data collected. The three most common ways to measure and report about data is by using the "Mean", "Median", and "Mode" of the data.
Data is collected regarding all kinds of situations. Some examples are sporting events like football, basketball, baseball; all the sports mentioned and many more all collect stats about player performance, game scenarios, it's endless.
An example of statistics being used in sports is in basketball. Players keep track of their points per game, rebounds per game, steals, assists, and more.
So let's look at the three main ways used to measure data. If you were a basketball player, you want to know what your average points per game is. This value in math is called the "Mean". In the real-world we refer to it as "finding the average."
The "Median" is the when you list the points scored from least to greatest, it is the number in the exact middle. This is the Median. In the sport of basketball, Median is used very little, but it would tell you if you scored more 1 pointers, 2 pointers, or three pointers.
The "Mode" is the score that repeats the most. So in basketball the answer would range from being able to score 1, 2, or 3 points.
Example 1:
The following points were scored by the best player on one basketball team: 21, 18, 14, 25, 20. Find the mean, median, and mode of the data.
In this lesson, you have learned how to calculate the mean, median, and mode for a set of data.