The mode is a statistical term for the value that occurs most frequently in a set of numbers. Learn about the difference between the mean, median, and mode.

Glossary Mean, median and mode There are several ways to calculate an average, the three most common being the mean, median and mode.

Sometimes the more telling statistic is the median, instead of the average -- but in the age of "average," it might take some effort to embrace the more accurate number.

Once data has been collected, it can be sorted and processed in different ways depending on the purpose of the survey. Finding an average value – mean, median or mode- is often useful.