measure of central tendency: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples

'Average' is a common, often imprecise term that usually refers to the mean. 'Measure of central tendency' is the precise statistical term that includes the mean, median, and mode. 'Average' can be ambiguous, while 'measure of central tendency' is specific to the field of statistics.

Because different types of data and different distributions require different ways of defining the 'center'. The mean uses all data but is sensitive to outliers. The median finds the literal middle point and is resistant to outliers. The mode identifies the most frequent value and is useful for categorical data. The choice depends on the question being asked and the shape of the data.

Yes. A dataset is bimodal if it has two modes, multimodal if it has more than two, and has no mode if no value repeats. The mode is the only measure of central tendency that can have multiple valid values for a single dataset.

Use the median when your dataset contains significant outliers or is skewed (not symmetrical). For example, in reporting incomes or house prices in an area, a few very high values would drastically increase the mean, making it unrepresentative of the 'typical' person. The median gives the income of the person in the middle of the ranking and is not affected by the extreme high values.

A single value that summarizes or represents the center point of a dataset.

Measure of central tendency is usually academic, technical, professional in register.

Measure of central tendency: in British English it is pronounced /ˈmeʒ.ər əv ˌsen.trəl ˈten.dən.si/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˈmeʒ.ɚ əv ˌsen.trəl ˈten.dən.si/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.