What term describes a computation that groups rows from a dataset to produce a single, meaningful value such as average or sum?

What term describes a computation that groups rows from a dataset to produce a single, meaningful value such as average or sum?

• A. Filtering
• B. Aggregation
• C. Sorting
• D. Iteration

Answer: (B)

Aggregation is the process of combining multiple rows into a single summary value. By applying functions like SUM, AVG, COUNT, or MAX to a column, you turn many data points into one meaningful number. You can get a single value for the whole dataset, or group rows (using GROUP BY) to produce a summary for each category—such as total sales by region or average score per class. This differs from filtering (which chooses which rows to include), sorting (which arranges rows), or iteration (which processes rows one by one). The description in the question fits aggregation, since it describes producing a single value from a set of rows.

Aggregation is the process of combining multiple rows into a single summary value. By applying functions like SUM, AVG, COUNT, or MAX to a column, you turn many data points into one meaningful number. You can get a single value for the whole dataset, or group rows (using GROUP BY) to produce a summary for each category—such as total sales by region or average score per class. This differs from filtering (which chooses which rows to include), sorting (which arranges rows), or iteration (which processes rows one by one). The description in the question fits aggregation, since it describes producing a single value from a set of rows.