Mode Calculator
Paste a list of numbers and this mode calculator finds the value that appears most often. If two or more values tie for the top spot, it lists all of them and tells you whether the data is bimodal or multimodal; if every value appears only once, it reports that there is no mode. A frequency table shows how often each value occurs, and the mean and median appear alongside for comparison.
Updated
Results
- Number of modes
- Times the mode appearsHighest count in the data
- Distribution type
- Number of values
- Distinct values
- MeanSum ÷ count, for comparison
- MedianMiddle value, for comparison
| Value | Frequency | Share of values |
|---|
Results are estimates. See the methodology below.
How to use the mode calculator
- Enter your numbers separated by commas, spaces or line breaks, for example
3, 7, 7, 2, 9. Order doesn't matter. - Use a period for decimals and skip thousands separators:
1250, not1,250. Negative numbers are allowed. - Read the results: the mode or modes, how many modes there are, how many times the mode occurs, the type of distribution (no mode, unimodal, bimodal or multimodal), the count of values, the number of distinct values, the mean and the median.
- Check the frequency table, sorted from most to least frequent, with each value's share of the total. It shows up to 50 distinct values.
You can enter up to 10,000 values.
How the mode is found
The mode is the value that occurs with the greatest frequency. The calculator counts how many times each distinct value appears, finds the highest count and returns every value that reaches it, sorted from smallest to largest.
- No mode: every value appears exactly once, so none stands out.
- Unimodal: one value has the highest count.
- Bimodal: two values share the highest count.
- Multimodal: three or more values share it.
Values are compared exactly, so 8 and 8.0 are the same value, but 8 and 8.01 are different. The share column is the value's count divided by the total number of values.
The mean is the sum divided by the count. The median is the middle value of the sorted list, or the average of the two middle values when the count is even.
Examples
1. Quiz scores
Ten scores: 72, 85, 85, 91, 68, 85, 77, 91, 85, 60. The mode is 85, which appears 4 times, 40% of the class. The data is unimodal, with 6 distinct values. The median is also 85, while the mean is 79.9, pulled down by the 60 and the 68.
2. Shoe sizes sold in one day
8, 9, 7.5, 8, 10, 8.5, 8, 9, 11, 8, 7, 9.5. Size 8 is the mode with 4 sales out of 12 (33.3%). Size 9 comes next with 2. For a store restocking shelves, this is the number that matters: a mean size of 8.625 or a median of 8.25 isn't a size anyone can buy.
3. Two modes
For 3, 7, 7, 2, 9, 7, 3, 5, 3, the values 3 and 7 each appear 3 times, so the result is 3, 7 and the data is bimodal. The mean is 5.11 and the median is 5.
| Data | Mode(s) | Type | Mean | Median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12, 15, 9, 20, 14 | — | No mode | 14 | 14 |
| 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5 | 2, 3, 4 | Multimodal | 3.29 | 3 |
| Quiz scores | 85 | Unimodal | 79.9 | 85 |
When the mode is useful
The mode is the natural summary when you care about the most common choice: a shoe size, a rating on a 1 to 5 scale, a number of people per household. It is always a value that actually occurs in your data, which the mean often isn't.
With continuous measurements such as weights or times, exact repeats are rare, so the mode can be missing or misleading. The NIST e-Handbook suggests taking the midpoint of the tallest histogram bar instead; rounding or grouping your data before entering it has a similar effect. Two clear modes can also be a sign that the data mixes two groups, for example measurements from two machines.
Frequently asked questions
How do you find the mode of a set of numbers?
Count how many times each value appears and pick the one with the highest count. In 3, 7, 7, 2, 9 the mode is 7, because it appears twice and every other value once.
Can a data set have more than one mode?
Yes. The mode is not necessarily unique. Two values tied for the highest count make the data bimodal; three or more make it multimodal.
What if every number appears the same number of times?
If each value appears only once, there is no mode. If every value appears the same number of times but more than once, as in 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, this calculator lists all of them as modes. Some textbooks say such a set has no mode, so check which convention your class uses.
What is the difference between mean, median and mode?
The mean is the arithmetic average, the median is the middle value and the mode is the most frequent value. In a symmetric distribution the mean and median coincide; with skewed data or outliers, they spread apart.
Why does the table stop at 50 values?
To keep the page readable, the frequency table lists the 50 most frequent distinct values. The mode, count, mean and median are still calculated from all the values you enter.
Sources
Results are calculated from the values you enter and are provided for general information. If a course or report defines the mode differently for tied values, follow that definition.