Frequency tables

Task goals

• Construct a frequency table from raw data or a tally chart, using gate-mark (four-and-a-cross) tally groups of five.
• Read a completed frequency table to find the mode (the value or class with the highest frequency) and the total number of data points (the sum of the frequency column).
• Answer threshold-style questions (e.g. "5 or more", "under 20") by summing frequencies across several rows rather than reading a single cell.
• Distinguish an ungrouped frequency table (one row per discrete value) from a grouped frequency table (data collected into class intervals), and explain why grouping is used when there are too many distinct values.
• Avoid the common error of stating the mode as a frequency number rather than the value/category that has that frequency.