Measures of Central Tendency in Data Science

What Are They?

Measures of central tendency show the center of a dataset. The main ones are:

• Mean – average value

• Median – middle value

• Mode – most frequent value

Why They Matter

• Quick summary of data

• Spot outliers

• Help in model selection

• Support data-driven decisions

Example

For 10, 15, 15, 20, 100:

• Mean = 32

• Median = 15

• Mode = 15

The mean is pulled up by the outlier (100), but median and mode reflect the true center.

In summary

These measures simplify complex data and are essential for analysis in data science.