Which statistic is defined as the number that occurs most often in a dataset?

The statistic that is defined as the number that occurs most frequently in a dataset is the mode. The mode is a measure of central tendency that identifies which value appears with the greatest frequency. For instance, in a dataset of exam scores, if the scores are 85, 90, 85, 70, and 100, the mode would be 85 since it appears more often than any other score.

In contrast, the mean is the average of all values in the dataset, calculated by summing all the values and then dividing by the number of values. The median is the middle value when a dataset is ordered from least to greatest. Lastly, the range defines the difference between the highest and lowest values in the dataset and does not indicate any frequency of occurrence. Thus, the mode serves a unique and specific function in analyzing the frequency of values within a set, making it the correct choice for this question.