What does the mean patterned after?

It sounds like you're asking about the "mean" in statistics. The mean is a measure of central tendency, representing the average value of a set of numbers.

It's not "patterned after" anything specific. The mean is calculated by:

1. Summing all the values in the set.

2. Dividing the sum by the number of values in the set.

Example:

Imagine we have the following set of numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8

1. Sum: 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 20

2. Divide: 20 / 4 = 5

The mean of this set is 5.

So, the mean is not based on any particular pattern, but rather a simple calculation that gives a representative value for the entire dataset.