On 16/08/13 17:47, Oscar Benjamin wrote:
I can't think of a situation where 1 or 2 modes are acceptable but 3 is not. The only forms I can imagine using are mode(data) to get the unique mode if it exists and mode(data, max_modes=None) to get the set of all modes.
Hmmm, I think you are right. The current design is leftover from when mode also supported continuous data, and it made more sense there.
But for that usage it would be better to have a boolean flag and then either way you're at the point where it would normally become two functions.
Alright, you've convinced me. I'll provide two functions: mode, which returns the single value with the highest frequency, or raises; and a second function, which collates the data into a sorted (value, frequency) list. Bike-shedding on the name of this second function is welcomed :-) -- Steven