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Mean, median, and mode are three kinds of "averages". There are many "averages" in statistics, but these are, I think, the three most common, and are certainly the three you are most likely to encounter in your pre-statistics courses, if the topic comes up at all.

The "mean" is the "average" you're used to, where you add up all the numbers and then divide by the number of numbers. The "median" is the "middle" value in the list of numbers. To find the median, your numbers have to be listed in numerical order, so you may have to rewrite your list first. The "mode" is the value that occurs most often. If no number is repeated, then there is no mode for the list.

The "range" is just the difference between the largest and smallest values.

In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line describes its steepness, incline, or grade. A higher slope value indicates a steeper incline.

The slope is defined as the ratio of the "rise" divided by the "run" between two points on a line, or in other words, the ratio of the altitude change to the horizontal distance between any two points on the line. Given two points (x₁,y₁) and (x₂,y₂) on a line, the slope m of the line is

Through differential calculus, one can calculate the slope of the tangent line to a curve at a point.

The concept of slope applies directly to grades or gradients in geography and civil engineering. Through trigonometry, the grade m of a road is related to its angle of incline θ by

Climate proxies are preserved physical characteristics of the past that enable scientists to reconstruct the climatic conditions that prevailed during much of the Earth's history. As reliable modern records of climate only began in the 1880s, proxies provide a means for scientists to determine climatic patterns before record-keeping began. Examples of proxies include ice cores, tree rings, boreholes, corals, and lake and ocean sediments. The deposition or growth rates of the proxies' material is influenced by the climatic conditions of the time in which they were laid down or grew. Chemical traces produced by climatic changes, such as quantities of particular isotopes, can be recovered from proxies. Some proxies, such as gas bubbles trapped in ice, enable traces of the ancient atmosphere to be recovered and measured directly to provide a history of fluctuations in the composition of the Earth's atmosphere.^[1] To produce the most precise results, systematic cross-verification between proxy indicators is necessary for accuracy in readings and record-keeping.^[2] The study of past climates is known as paleoclimatology.^[3]