What is the term used to describe the average of a set of numbers?

The term that describes the average of a set of numbers is the mean. To calculate the mean, you add all the numbers in the set together and then divide that sum by the count of the numbers. This process gives a single value that accurately represents the central tendency of the data.

The mean is a commonly used statistical measure because it incorporates every value in the dataset, which can provide a more comprehensive picture of the overall average. It is particularly useful in datasets without extreme outliers, as those can skew the average. In contrast, terms like mode and median represent different ways of summarizing a set of data: the mode is the number that appears most frequently, while the median is the middle value when the numbers are arranged in order. The range refers to the difference between the highest and lowest values in a dataset and does not provide an average.