The mode is the most common value appearing in a data set, and is one of three key metrics used to analyze data, alongside the mean and median. The mode can sometimes give a better view of data than the mean or median, since its accuracy is not affected by outliers, data points far greater or smaller than the rest of the set. The median also helps give some context to the mean: if the median is far from the mean, then it suggests the mean may not be an accurate representation of the data. However, the mode can also present a skewed view of data: if one low data point occurred many times, the mode may be very different from both the median and mean.