From e43e7ed36480190083740fd75e2b9cdca72f1a68 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Raymond Hettinger Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2019 01:23:05 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] bpo-35892: Add usage note to mode() (GH-15122) --- Doc/library/statistics.rst | 4 +++- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/Doc/library/statistics.rst b/Doc/library/statistics.rst index 3a2a1f94db..bb77228cea 100644 --- a/Doc/library/statistics.rst +++ b/Doc/library/statistics.rst @@ -313,7 +313,9 @@ However, for reading convenience, most of the examples show sorted sequences. measure of central location. If there are multiple modes, returns the first one encountered in the *data*. - If *data* is empty, :exc:`StatisticsError` is raised. + If the smallest or largest of multiple modes is desired instead, use + ``min(multimode(data))`` or ``max(multimode(data))``. If the input *data* is + empty, :exc:`StatisticsError` is raised. ``mode`` assumes discrete data, and returns a single value. This is the standard treatment of the mode as commonly taught in schools: -- 2.40.0