Mean, Median or Mode — Which to Use?

Mean (sum ÷ count) is the everyday "average" but is distorted by outliers. Median (middle value when sorted) resists outliers — which is why house prices and salaries are usually reported as medians. Mode (most frequent value) suits categorical data like shoe sizes.

Why UK House Prices Use the Median

A handful of £10m+ sales would drag the mean up dramatically while telling you nothing about typical homes. The median — the middle transaction — better represents what a typical buyer actually pays.

Range and Spread

Range (max − min) gives a quick sense of spread but uses only two values. For deeper analysis, standard deviation measures how clustered data is around the mean.