Quick answer: The mode of a discrete frequency table is the value with the largest frequency. It is the value itself, not the frequency count. Two tied highest values can give two modes.
Worked example
Values 1, 2, 3, 4 have frequencies 2, 5, 3, 1. Find the mode.
- Compare frequencies: 5 is the largest.
- It belongs to value 2.
- Therefore the mode is 2; the modal frequency is 5.
- There are 11 observations in total, but the total is not needed to identify this mode.
Check the result
Writing the data out would show five occurrences of 2, more than any other value.
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Common mistake to avoid
Do not report 5 as the mode here. For grouped continuous data, the modal class and an estimated mode are different ideas.
Try it yourself
1. Values 10, 20, 30 have frequencies 4, 4, 1. Find modes. 2. In data 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, find the mode.
Answers and reasoning
1. Both 10 and 20 tie for highest frequency: bimodal. 2. Mode is 4, appearing three times.
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