In order to describe data, we often use arithmetic functions such as the mean, median, and mode. These three functions are known as _________.

• A. Measures of dispersion
• B. Measures of shape
• C. Measures of outliers
• D. Measures of central tendency

Answer: (D)

These statistics describe where data tend to cluster, capturing a single representative value for the data set. The mean, median, and mode are all ways to describe the central location of the distribution, so they are called measures of central tendency.

The mean is the arithmetic average, the median is the middle value when the data are ordered, and the mode is the most frequent value. They each summarize the data’s center in a slightly different way, which is why all three are grouped together as central tendency.

It helps to contrast this with measures of dispersion (how spread out the data are, like range or standard deviation) or measures of shape (the distribution’s symmetry or peakedness). For example, in a skewed distribution, the mean can be pulled toward the tail, while the median remains closer to the bulk of the data, illustrating how they describe center from different perspectives.