Central tendency
MCAT glossary · MCAT
Definition
A summary value — mean, median, or mode — representing the center of a distribution.
Central tendency in plain English
Central tendency is just a fancy phrase for "the typical or middle value" of a bunch of numbers — one number that sums up the whole group. The three common ways to find it are the mean (the average, add them all and divide), the median (the exact middle value when you line them up in order), and the mode (the value that shows up most often). Which one you use matters: if a few billionaires walk into a room, the average (mean) income skyrockets, but the median still shows what a normal person there earns. It's a way to describe a crowd with a single representative number.
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