1. What is mode?

The mode is the value that occurs most often. The mode is the only average that can have no
value, one value or more than one value. When finding the mode, it helps to order the numbers
first.

2. This is the most frequence score in the data set. This is also the most popular option.

- Mode

3. The weights in kg of 10 students are given below:

39, 43, 36, 38, 46, 51, 33, 44, 44, 43

Find the mode of this data.

Values Frequency
33 1
36 1
38 1
39 1
43 2
44 2
46 1
51 1

MODE: 43 and 44

The mode is the category with the greatest frequency (or percentage). It is not the frequency itself. In
other words, if someone asks you for the mode of the distribution shown below, the answer would be
coconut, NOT 22. It is possible to have more than one mode in a distribution. Such distributions are
considered bimodal (if there are two modes) or multi-modal (if there are more than two modes).
Distributions without a clear mode are said to be uniform. The mode is not particularly useful, but it is
the only measure of central tendency we can use with nominal variables.
Finding the mode

Find the mode of each of the following sets of numbers:

a) 3, 7, 1, 3, 4, 8, 3

b) 2, 7, 2, 1, 4, 7, 3

c) 1, 4, 2, 5, 3, 6

Hide answer

a) Start by placing the numbers in order:

1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 7, 8

The number occurs most often so the mode is 3 .

b) Start by placing the numbers in order:

1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 7, 7

The numbers 2 and 7 occur more often so the modes are 2 and 7.

c) Start by placing the numbers in order:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Since each value occurs only once in the data set, there is no mode for this set of data.