What you’ll learn
Understand distributions.
Key idea
A distribution includes every category's frequency; its most frequent value need not describe everyone.
Category labels are not frequencies; a mode is not every observation and cannot establish schoolwide certainty from a small sample.
Worked example
Enter the exact value or ordered values in the format requested below.
Students report books read: (1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3). Construct frequencies for values (1, 2, 3), in that order. Enter three numeric counts separated by commas.
- Tally categories (1, 2, 3) separately to obtain counts (2, 1, 7), totaling 10 observations.
- The greatest count is 7 at 3 books; the sample also contains other values.
Answer: 2,1,7
Quick Check
Interpret the result of 'Understand distributions' in the data-generating context, including units and population limits.
Books-read categories (2, 3, 4) have frequency counts (1, 2, 4). Select an interpretation justified for these 7 sampled students.