Mean, Median & Mode
📋 What it is
Mean = the average (add up, divide by count). Median = the middle value in order. Mode = the most common value.
🗣️ Coach says
These three "averages" summarize a whole dataset with one number — but they can disagree. Mean is the balance point, median is the middle, mode is the most frequent. Knowing which to use is a real data skill.
🧠 Memory hook
MEAN = add & divide. MEDIAN = middle when lined up. MODE = most common. (Mode → "most".)
😂 Giggle
Why was the scatter plot always confused?
It could never see the point!
😲 Whoa!
For house prices, the MEDIAN is reported instead of the mean — because a few billion-dollar mansions would drag the mean way up and mislead everyone.
✅ Quick check: For the numbers 2, 3, 3, 10, what is the MODE?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
3 — it appears most often.
The mode is the value that occurs most frequently.
🪄 Trick question: One giant value is added to a dataset. Which is pulled more, the mean or the median?
Careful — think it through, then reveal.
The mean — one extreme value (outlier) drags the average, but barely moves the middle.
The mean uses every value’s size; the median only cares about position.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Ask 5 people their shoe size. Find the mean, median, and mode. Do all three agree?