Definition
Frequency
Frequency is the number of times a named value, category, outcome, or interval occurs.
Continue from this idea into connected AXIO math.
Name it, tally it, count it.
Boundary: Frequency is the count itself. Relative frequency compares that count with the total, often as a fraction, decimal, or percentage.
What it means
Pick what you are counting, then count every time it appears. In a table or graph, the frequency belongs to a particular value or category. It is a whole-number count.
Remember it
Name it, tally it, count it.
Example
The results are blue, green, blue, yellow, blue, green. Blue appears 3 times, so the frequency of blue is 3; green has frequency 2.
Watch for
Frequency is the count itself. Relative frequency compares that count with the total, often as a fraction, decimal, or percentage.
Common mix-up
In data, frequency counts occurrences; in science, frequency can mean cycles per unit time. The context chooses the sense.
Exact meaning
In data, the frequency of a specified value, category, outcome, or class interval is its count of occurrences in the data set or trials. The counted item and the observation set must be stated.