· Grade 6 lesson · 2 min read
Lesson: Mean, Median and Mode (Grade 6)
Mean, median and mode are three ways to describe a typical number in a list.
Our list: five friends read books this month. They read 2, 6, 3, 5 and 4 books.
Mean: make it fair
The mean is what everyone gets if we share fairly. Think of block towers. Move blocks from tall towers to short ones until all are the same height.
The math way:
- Add them all: 2 + 6 + 3 + 5 + 4 = 20
- Divide by how many numbers there are (5): 20 ÷ 5 = 4
Mean = 4
Median: the middle one
The median is the number in the middle when you line them up from smallest to biggest.
In order: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Median = 4
If there are two numbers in the middle, the median is halfway between them. For 2, 3, 5, 6 the median is halfway between 3 and 5, which is 4.
Mode: the most popular
The mode is the number that shows up most often.
In 3, 7, 5, 2, 5, 8, the number 5 shows up twice. Mode = 5
Our books list (2, 6, 3, 5, 4) has every number once, so it has no mode.
Remember them
| Word | Means | Memory trick |
|---|---|---|
| Mean | share fairly (add, then divide) | the mean takes the most steps: add, then divide |
| Median | the middle | like the median strip in the middle of a road |
| Mode | the most often | mode = most |