What represents the sum of data values divided by their count?

• A. Mode
• B. Median
• C. Mean
• D. Range

Answer: (C)

The mean is defined as the average of a set of values, which is calculated by summing all the data values and then dividing that total by the number of values in the set. This statistical measure gives a central value that helps in understanding the overall trend of the data.

The mean is particularly useful in many fields, including bone densitometry, where you might want to assess average bone density measurements across a population to understand overall health or risk factors. This contrasts with the other terms: the mode refers to the most frequently occurring value, the median is the middle value when data is ordered, and the range indicates the difference between the maximum and minimum values. Each of these measures serves a different purpose in data analysis, but for calculating an average, the mean is the appropriate choice.