Mode
Mode
has several meanings:
- In statistics,
the mode is the value that has the largest number of observations,
namely the most frequent value or values. The mode is not necessarily unique,
unlike the arithmetic
mean and the median.
It is most useful when the values or observations are not numeric: for example,
while the mode of {1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 9} is 2, the mode of {apple, apple, banana,
orange, orange, orange, peach} is orange.
See also:
summary
statistics,
descriptive
statistics
- In fashion
the mode is also the largest number, but of the number of people
following that trend.
- In music
a mode is a kind of scale; see musical
mode.
- In computer
software, a mode is distinct method of operation within a
computer program. Three popular examples of software employing modes:
- vi--has
one mode for inserting text, and a separate mode for inserting commands. Some
people also call VI's ability to line-edit a "mode" (even though it is launched
outside of VI's normal interface, by invoking "ex"
from the operating
system's command
line interface.)
- Emacs--has
many modes that can be evoked based on file type to more easily edit files of
a certain type. Modes are written in Emacs' LISP,
and all modes may not be included with all versions.
- CIOS
(Cisco Internetworking Operating System)-- in order to gain the privilege to execute
certain commands, you must enter a certain mode that allows you to execute that
command.
- In a waveguide
or cavity the mode is one of the possible patterns of electromagnetic
field. Available patterns are derived from Maxwell's
equations and the applicable boundary conditions.
- In acoustics,
a mode is one of the possible patterns of vibration, analogous
to waveguide and cavity modes, only that electrical and magnetical fields are
replaced by velocity and displacement. Each mode has a characteristic vibrational
frequency and damping.
- An example of acoustic modes: An "ideal" guitar
string of length L, fixed at both ends, will have modes in the shape of sin(n*x*pi/L),
where n is the mode number.
