Glossary
mode
The mode is the value that appears most often in a set of numbers. A set may have one mode, several modes, or no mode if every value appears once.
The mode is the value that occurs most often in a set of numbers. In 2, 4, 4, 4, 7, 9 the mode is 4, because it appears three times and nothing else appears more than once. Unlike the mean and the median, the mode does not need any arithmetic — you count, you do not add or divide.
Three things surprise people. A set can have more than one mode: in 1, 1, 5, 5, 8 both 1 and 5 appear twice, so both are modes. A set can have no mode at all when every value appears exactly once. And the mode is a value from the set, while the mean and the median can be numbers that never appear in it.
A mode question is usually a counting question in disguise — tally the values, and be careful to count the right thing. When a question gives frequencies rather than a list, the mode is the category with the largest frequency, and a tie there means two modes rather than a mistake in your work.
Taught in
Related terms
- median — The median is the middle value of a set of numbers once they are in order. Half the values lie below it, half above, and it is not moved much by an outlier.
- range — The range of a data set is the difference between its largest and smallest values — subtract the smallest from the largest. It is a measure of spread, not of center.
Source: Official ASVAB — subtest descriptions (what each subtest asks) and the CAT-ASVAB scored-question counts (accessed 2026-09)