The mode of a population function is a measure of?

Question

Hello

The mode of a population function is a measure of?

A. Spread

B. Dispersion

C. Variation

D. Location

Thanks

Answer 1

Variation

The mode for **any** characteristic of a population is the value for that characteristic that occurs most often within the population.  In addition to that, the reason for "variation" being the answer for your question is because the larger the mode is in comparison to the total population, the less varation there is in the population.

Finding the mode is generally only practical when you're considering data that only has a small number of discrete values.  For example, if you're considering the test scores of 30 students, and the scores are given rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent, that gives you a thousand possible values (0.0% to 100.0 %) and the mode is not a very useful piece of information.  However, if you consider letter grades in an A-B-C-D-F system, there are only five possible values, which makes the mode more meaningful.  Hope all that helps!