Statistics interview question: What is the largest number of means, medians and modes that a dataset can have?
In statistics, the measure of central tendency is a single value that attempts to describe a data set by identifying the central position within that set of data. The mean, or average, is the most popular measure that is used to identify a dataset, but there are other variables that can be used, such as the median and the mode.
Mean
The mean is the average value of a dataset. The mean is calculated by summing the elements of the dataset and then dividing them into the the number of elements of the dataset, as seen in the formula below:-
The mean can be determined in the Python programming language by using the mean() function.
The mean can be determined in Excel by using the AVERAGE() function.
There can be only one mean in any dataset.
Median
The median is the central number in a dataset. The median is determined by firstly sorting the data set, and:-
- If the dataset has an odd number of elements then the median will be the central number in it.
- If the dataset has an even number of elements then the median will be the sum of the two central elements divided…