Which term is defined as the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores?

Which term is defined as the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores?

• A. Mean
• B. Median
• C. Mode
• D. Percent

Answer: (A)

The term for the arithmetic average is the mean: you add all the scores together and then divide by how many scores there are. This single number represents the overall level of the data. For example, with scores 5, 7, and 9, the sum is 21 and dividing by 3 gives a mean of 7. The mean is what people commonly call the average. It differs from the median (the middle value when data are ordered) and the mode (the most frequently occurring value), and it isn’t a percentage. Keep in mind the mean can be influenced by extreme values, which can shift the average higher or lower.

The term for the arithmetic average is the mean: you add all the scores together and then divide by how many scores there are. This single number represents the overall level of the data. For example, with scores 5, 7, and 9, the sum is 21 and dividing by 3 gives a mean of 7. The mean is what people commonly call the average. It differs from the median (the middle value when data are ordered) and the mode (the most frequently occurring value), and it isn’t a percentage. Keep in mind the mean can be influenced by extreme values, which can shift the average higher or lower.