The mean, median, and mode are referred to as what?

The mean, median, and mode are identified as measures of central tendency because they provide valuable insights into the characteristics of a data set by indicating the central point or typical value within that set. The mean is the arithmetic average, the median is the middle value when data is arranged in order, and the mode is the most frequently occurring value in the data set. Together, these statistical measures summarize the data, allowing appraisers and analysts to interpret and compare different data sets effectively.

In contrast, measures of average tendency and central representations do not specifically refer to these three statistical concepts in a formal mathematical sense, which is why they are less precise. Measures of dispersion, on the other hand, deal with the spread or variability in a data set, focusing on how much the values differ from the central tendency, thus highlighting a different aspect of data analysis than what is represented by the mean, median, and mode.