DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, CHANDIGARH
STATISTICS
Class – XI
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY- MEAN, MEDIAN AND MODE
1. Measures of Central Tendency- Measures of central tendency is one of the
statistical tools for the analysis and interpretation of data. Central Tendency refers to
a central or typical value around which data tend to cluster. It is also known as the
measure of the average.
2. Average: It is a value which is representative of a whole group of data. It is a
value which comes somewhere at the centre/middle of the distribution. Since it is a
value which comes at the centre and all other values tend towards it therefore
Averages are also called Measures of Central Tendency.
3. Types of Measures of Central Tendency
There are three main measures
4. Essentials of a good Average: An ideal average should have the following
characteristics:
⮚ It should be rigidly defined
⮚ It should be simple to understand and easy to calculate.
⮚ It should be based on all observations
⮚ It should be applicable for further mathematical calculation
⮚ It should be least affected by the presence of extreme values
⮚ It should not be affected by sample fluctuations
Merits of Arithmetic Mean:
1] Easy to calculate
2] Simple to understand
3] Based on all observations
4] Capable of further mathematical calculations.
5] Least affected by fluctuations of sampling.
Demerits of Arithmetic Mean:
1] Affected by the presence of extreme values.
2] Can not be calculated in open- end series.
3] Cannot be graphically ascertained.
4] Sometimes misleading or absurd result.
CORRECTED MEAN
MEDIAN
Median (M) is defined as the middle value of the series, when the data is arranged in
ascending or descending order.
Calculation of Median
1. For Individual & Discrete Series M=Size of (N+1) th item
2. Continuous series: M = size of (N/2) th item
STATEMENT BASED QUESTIONS:
In light of the given statements, choose the correct alternative from the following:
(a) Statement I is true and Statement II is false
(b) Statement I is false and Statement II is true
(c) Both Statements I and II are true
(d) Both Statements I and II are false
Statement I: Mean is the most reliable measure for comparing different datasets.
Statement II: Mean is not affected by extreme values.
Statement I: Arithmetic mean is the most commonly used measure of central
tendency. Statement II: Arithmetic mean gives equal weight to each observation in
the dataset.
Statement I: Mean is not suitable for qualitative data.
Statement II: Mean is calculated using numerical values only.
Statement I: Median is preferred over mean when the data is skewed.
Statement II: Median is affected by extreme values in the dataset.
Statement I: Median is a positional average.
Statement II: Median depends on the order of values in the dataset.
Statement I: Median can be calculated even when the data contains open-ended
intervals.
Statement II: Median does not require the values to be exactly known.
Statement I: Mode is suitable for qualitative data.
Statement II: Mode identifies the most frequently occurring item in the dataset.
Statement I: A dataset always has only one mode.
Statement II: Mode is the average of all values in a dataset.
Answers: 1. (c) 2. (a) 3. (a) 4. (c) 5. (a) 6. (a) 7. (a) 8. (b)
