MODE() – Finds the most frequently occurring number in a range

MODE(range)

• range: A continuous range of cells containing the numbers for which you want to find the mode (e.g., T1A1:T1A10).

MODE(T1A1:T1A10)

This formula finds the most common numeric value in cells T1A1 through T1A10.

Example outputs:

• If cells T1A1:T1A10 contain [1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4], the formula returns 4 (as 4 appears most frequently).
• If cells T1A1:T1A6 contain [1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5], both 2 and 3 appear twice. The formula returns 2 (the lower of the tied values).
• If cells T1A1:T1A5 contain [10, "text", 50, empty_cell, 10], the numbers are [10, 50, 10]. The mode is 10.
• If cells T1A1:T1A3 contain [7, 1, 4] (all unique), each is tied with a frequency of 1. The formula returns an error, because no mode value was found.

• Most frequent value: Returns the number that appears most often in the dataset.
• Tie-breaking rule: If multiple numbers share the highest frequency, this function returns the smallest of those numbers.
• Ignores text: Text values within the range are ignored.
• Ignores empty cells: Blank cells within the range are ignored.

• Finding the most common score in a test, or the most frequent response in a survey (if responses are numeric).
• Identifying the most typical order size, product defect type (if coded numerically), or popular choice.
• Useful in inventory to find the most frequently sold item number.

• Incorrect range specification: Ensure the range is correctly defined.
• Numbers formatted as text: If numbers are stored as text and are not automatically converted by MathGrid, they will be ignored and not contribute to the mode calculation.
• Empty or all-text range: If the range contains no numeric values, MODE() will return an error, as no mode can be determined.
• Expecting all modes: This function returns a single value. If a dataset has multiple distinct values that are equally most frequent (e.g., [1,1,2,2,3]), MathGrid's MODE() function returns the lowest of these (1 in this example), not a list of all modes.