The word "average" is often used to describe a typical value, but what does it really mean? In statistics, an average is a measure of central tendency, which is a way of summarizing a set of data.
There are three main types of averages: the mean, the median, and the mode. The mean is the most commonly used type of average and is simply the sum of all the values divided by the number of values.
The median is the middle value in a set of data, while the mode is the most frequently occurring value. While each type of average can be useful in its own way, they all have one thing in common: they provide a way to distill a large set of data down to a single number. This can be helpful in many situations, such as when trying to determine how much money to save for retirement or what grade to expect in a class. No matter what form it takes, the average is a powerful tool for understanding data.