1. Let's state a basic statistics problem: Find the mean (average) of the data set: 4, 8, 6, 5, 3. 2. The formula for the mean is: $$\text{Mean} = \frac{\text{Sum of all data points}}{\text{Number of data points}}$$ 3. Add all the numbers: $$4 + 8 + 6 + 5 + 3 = 26$$ 4. Count the number of data points: There are 5 numbers. 5. Divide the sum by the number of data points: $$\frac{26}{5} = 5.2$$ 6. So, the mean of the data set is 5.2. This means if all values were equal, each would be 5.2 to have the same total as the original data set.