=head1 NAME

Statistics::Basic::Mode - find the mode of a list

=head1 SYNOPSIS

Invoke it this way:

    my $mode = mode(1,2,3,3);

Or this way:

    my $v1  = vector(1,2,3,3);
    my $mod = mode($v1);

And then either query the values or print them like so:

    print "The mod of $v1: $mod\n";
    my $mq = $mod->query;
    my $m0 = 0+$mod; # this will croak occasionally, see below

The mode of an array is not necessarily a scalar.  The mode of this vector is a
vector:

    my $mod = mode(1,2,3);
    my $v2  = $mod->query;

    print "hrm, there's three elements in this mode: $mod\n"
        if $mod->is_multimodal;

Create a 20 point "moving" mode like so:

    use Statistics::Basic qw(:all nofill);

    my $sth = $dbh->prepare("select col1 from data where something");
    my $len = 20;
    my $mod = mode()->set_size($len);

    $sth->execute or die $dbh->errstr;
    $sth->bind_columns( my $val ) or die $dbh->errstr;

    while( $sth->fetch ) {
        $mod->insert( $val );
        if( defined( my $m = $mod->query ) ) {
            print "Mode: $m\n";
        }

        print "Mode: $mod\n" if $mod->query_filled;
    }

=head1 METHODS

=over 4

=item B<new()>

The constructor takes a list of values, a single array ref, or a single
L<Statistics::Basic::Vector> as arguments.  It returns a
L<Statistics::Basic::Mode> object.

Note: normally you'd use the L<mean()|Statistics::Basic/mode()> constructor,
rather than building these by hand using C<new()>.

=item B<is_multimodal()>

L<Statistics::Basic::Mode> objects sometimes return L<Statistics::Basic::Vector>
objects instead of numbers.  When C<is_multimodal()> is true, the mode is a
vector, not a scalar.

=item B<_OVB::import()>

This module also inherits all the overloads and methods from
L<Statistics::Basic::_OneVectorBase>.

=back

=head1 OVERLOADS

This object is overloaded.  It tries to return an appropriate string for the
calculation or the value of the computation in numeric context.

In boolean context, this object is always true (even when empty).

If evaluated as a string, L<Statistics::Basic::Mode> will try to format a number
(like any other L<Statistics::Basic> object), but if the object
L</is_multimodal()>, it will instead return a L<Statistics::Basic::Vector> for
stringification.

    $x = mode(1,2,3);
    $y = mode(1,2,2);

    print "$x, $y\n"; # prints: [1, 2, 3], 2

If evaluated as a number, a L<Statistics::Basic::Mode> will raise an error when
the object L</is_multimodal()>.

=head1 AUTHOR

Paul Miller C<< <jettero@cpan.org> >>

=head1 COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2009 Paul Miller -- Licensed under the LGPL

=head1 SEE ALSO

perl(1), L<Statistics::Basic>, L<Statistics::Basic::_OneVectorBase>, L<Statistics::Basic::Vector>

=cut