Statistical averages, also known as measures of central tendency, are used to describe a set of data by providing a single value that represents the center of the data. The most common statistical averages are the mean, median, and mode. The mean is calculated by adding up all the values in the data set and dividing by the number of values. The median is the middle value when the data is arranged in numerical order. The mode is the most frequently occurring value in the data set.