Which term is defined as the average of a dataset?

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

Answer: (A)

The concept being tested is how we describe a typical value in a dataset. The term that represents the average is the mean. It’s found by adding up all the numbers and dividing by how many numbers there are, which makes it a balance point for the data. In many contexts, “average” is used to mean the mean, so it’s the standard way to summarize the central tendency with a single representative value.

The other terms describe different ideas: the median is the middle value when the data are ordered, the mode is the most frequently occurring value, and dispersion refers to how spread out the data are (not an average at all). For example, in a dataset like 2, 5, 7, the mean is 4.67, while the median is 5 and there isn’t a single mode.