What does the term "mean" specifically refer to in statistics?

In statistics, the term "mean" specifically refers to the average of a set of values. This is calculated by taking the sum of all numerical values in the dataset and then dividing that total by the number of values present. This process gives a central value that is useful for understanding the overall behavior of the data. The mean is a key measure of central tendency and is particularly useful in scenarios where a quick assessment of the average value is needed.

The other options represent different statistical concepts:

• The difference between the largest and smallest values is known as the range, which helps understand the spread of the data.

• The middle value of a sorted set is referred to as the median, providing insight into the midpoint of the dataset.

• The most frequently occurring value is termed the mode, which identifies the value that appears most often in the dataset.

Each of these concepts serves a distinct purpose in statistics, but when discussing the mean specifically, it is about the average calculated as described.