Mode
Mode – Is the thing that occurs most often.
There are two ways to remember this, either:
MOdes there the MOst
The 'mo' at the start of mode is there the most.
Or:
Mode sounds like mowed.
She mowed the lawn almost every day. She was the most prolific mower. Most people thought she was crazy. It’s what she spent most of her spare time doing, but she wanted the most beautiful lawn.
Example 1
D is the letter that would be the mode in this word.
Example 2
5 is the mode in this group of numbers.
Example 3
6 is the mode in this group of numbers.
Example 4
21 is the mode in this group of numbers.
Why is the mode used?
Example 1
The mode is useful if you are dealing with data that cannot be expressed numerically. For example, a manager wants to find out what colour shirts her employees wear most frequently. She collects the data and realises that she cannot use the mean or median to work out what colour her employees prefer because there aren't any numbers involved.
However, she could work out a mode as follows.
Monday: Red, Blue, Black, Pink, Green, and Blue
Tuesday: Green, Blue, Pink, White, Blue, and Blue
Wednesday: Orange, White, White, Blue, Blue, and Red
Thursday: Brown, Black, Brown, Blue, White, and Blue
Friday: Blue, Black, Blue, Red, Red, and Pink
What is the mode of the colours above?
|
Red |
Blue |
Black |
Pink |
Green |
White |
Orange |
Brown |
|
4 |
11 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
Here we can see that the mode is blue. The choice of new uniform should be blue.
Example 2
The mode is useful for manufacturers because it allows them to work out what is selling best and therefore know what they need to produce.
|
Book |
|||||
|
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
|
|
Requests from supplier X |
60 |
30 |
40 |
4000 |
30 |
|
Requests from supplier Y |
70 |
40 |
35 |
3000 |
35 |
|
Requests from supplier Z |
71 |
43 |
31 |
3000 |
40 |
Total these up:
|
Book |
||||
|
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
|
201 |
113 |
106 |
10000 |
105 |
The mode is book D.
They must manufacture more of book D.
