How is "average" primarily calculated?

The term "average" typically refers to what is known as the arithmetic mean. This is calculated by summing all the individual data points in a set and then dividing that total by the number of data points or observations. This process provides a single value that represents the overall trend of the dataset, making it a useful measure of central tendency.

For example, if you have a set of test scores, to find the average, you would add all the scores together and then divide by the total number of students. This calculation gives a clear view of the expected performance in that set of data.

The other methods, while they are valid concepts in statistics, do not define how the average is calculated. Selecting the highest value refers to finding the maximum, multiplying data points by their frequency corresponds to calculating a weighted average, and selecting the middle value pertains to finding the median. Each of these measures serves different purposes in data analysis, but they do not define the arithmetic average.