National Board Dental Hygiene Examination (NBDHE) Dental Hygienist Practice Test

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Prepare for the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination. Study with multiple-choice questions, hints, and explanations. Ace your dental hygienist exam!

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In statistics, what term defines the most frequently occurring value in a data set?

Mean
Median
Mode
Range

The correct answer is: Mode

The term that defines the most frequently occurring value in a data set is the mode. The mode represents the value that appears with the highest frequency compared to other values in the dataset, making it a measure of central tendency that can be particularly useful in categorical data where we wish to know which is the most common category. In contrast, the mean is the average of all the values, calculated by adding all the numbers together and dividing by the total count; it is sensitive to outliers. The median is the middle value in a dataset when the values are arranged in ascending or descending order, and it is effective in indicating the center of a skewed distribution. The range, on the other hand, measures the difference between the highest and lowest values in a dataset. Understanding these distinctions helps to clarify the roles of different statistical measures in data analysis.