What is the term for the most frequently occurring value in a dataset?

The term for the most frequently occurring value in a dataset is known as the mode. The mode is a measure of central tendency that identifies the value that appears most often. This is especially useful in categorical data where we want to see which category or value is the most prevalent.

For instance, in the dataset of colors of shirts sold—say, 5 red, 3 blue, and 7 green shirts—the mode would be green, as it has the highest frequency. The mode can also be applied to numerical data, where it helps in understanding the data distribution.

In contrast, the mean refers to the average value of a dataset, calculated by summing all values and dividing by the total number of values. The median is the middle value in a sorted dataset, representing the 50th percentile. The range measures the difference between the maximum and minimum values in a dataset, providing insight into the variability but not the most common value. These other terms all serve different purposes and do not specifically denote the most frequently occurring value.