The mean, median, and mode are basic ways to describe characteristics or summarize information from a dataset. When a new, large dataset is first encountered, it can be helpful to know basic information about it to direct further analysis. These values are often used in later analysis to generate more complex measurements and conclusions. This can occur when we use the mean of a dataset to calculate the standard deviation, which we will demonstrate in the Standard deviation section of this chapter.
The term mean, also called the average, is computed by adding values in a list and then dividing the sum by the number of values. This technique is useful for determining the general trend for a set of numbers. It can also be used to fill in missing data elements. We are going to examine several ways to calculate the mean for a given set of data using standard Java libraries as well as third-party APIs.
