Why is the mode the only appropriate measure of center for categorical (qualitative) data?

Because the mode is based solely on frequency counts of categories and does not require numeric ordering or arithmetic operations, unlike the mean and median which require numeric values and ordering respectively.

Because the mean and median work for categories after assigning numbers, making the mode the only theoretically pure but practically inferior measure of center for qualitative data.

Because mode, median, and mean are all equally applicable to qualitative data, but textbooks choose to emphasize the mode for simplicity without strong methodological reasons.

Because categorical data always have a natural numeric encoding that can be averaged easily, but the mode is still preferred since it gives a more precise numeric summary than mean or median.