Which statement correctly identifies the mean in a data set?

Which statement correctly identifies the mean in a data set?

• A. The middle value in a data set.
• B. The most frequent value in a data set.
• C. The spread of values around the mean.
• D. The sum of all values divided by the number of scores.

Answer: (D)

Mean is the average value of a data set, found by adding all the numbers and dividing by how many numbers there are. This directly matches the idea of taking the sum of all values and dividing by the number of scores. The other descriptions point to different concepts: the middle value is the median, the most frequent value is the mode, and the spread of values around the mean describes dispersion (like range or standard deviation) rather than the mean itself. The mean acts as a balance point for the data, though it can be affected by extreme values.

Mean is the average value of a data set, found by adding all the numbers and dividing by how many numbers there are. This directly matches the idea of taking the sum of all values and dividing by the number of scores. The other descriptions point to different concepts: the middle value is the median, the most frequent value is the mode, and the spread of values around the mean describes dispersion (like range or standard deviation) rather than the mean itself. The mean acts as a balance point for the data, though it can be affected by extreme values.