What is the difference between mean, median and mode?

The mean is the equal-share value (sum ÷ count). The median is the middle of the sorted data. The mode is the value that appears most often. They answer slightly different questions about “typical”.

Can there be more than one mode?

Yes. If two or more values tie for the highest frequency, the data is multimodal and every winner counts. If nothing repeats at all, there is no mode.

Which one should I report?

For skewed data (salaries, prices) the median. For symmetric, outlier-free data the mean. The mode is the only one that makes sense for categories — favourite colour, most common defect — where averaging is meaningless.

Stats & Algebra

Three in one

Mean, Median & Mode Calculator

Paste in a data set once and get all three measures of centre — the equal-share mean, the middle-value median and the most-frequent mode — each with its working shown.

Your numbers

7 numbers recognised

Separate with commas or spaces — up to 60 values.

Worked solution

Mean · Median · Mode

6.428571 · 4 · 4

the three ways to describe the centre of the data

Mean 6.428571 (equal share), median 4 (middle value), mode 4 (most frequent). When mean and median disagree by a lot, an outlier is pulling the mean.

The working

4 steps

Mean — add everything, share it out
mean = (4 + 8 + 4 + 15 + 2 + 8 + 4) ÷ 7 = 45 ÷ 7 = 6.428571
Sort the values from smallest to largest
The median is a position, not a calculation — you have to put the data in order before you can find the middle.
As entered
48415284
Sorted — smallest to largest
24448815
The middle value (gold) is the median.
Pick the middle value
With 7 values, position 4 is the middle — 1 values either side of it.
median = value at position 4 = 4
Mode — the most frequent value
4 appears 3 times, more than any other value.
Value Frequency
2 1
4 3 ★
8 2
15 1
Mode = 4

Value	Frequency
2	1
4	3	★
8	2
15	1

Works instantly in your browser — nothing is uploaded, and the URL keeps your numbers so you can share the exact worked example.

Studying statistics or linear algebra? See every tool in the Stats & Algebra hub — variance, interpolation, RREF and eigenvectors, cross-linked.

Reading the three together

When mean, median and mode roughly agree, the data is symmetric and any of them tells the story. When the mean runs well ahead of the median, a high tail is pulling it — the median is the honest summary. The gap between them is itself a signal.