Measures of Central Tendency

Dr. A. Divya
Assistant Professor
PG & Research Department of Mathematics
Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts & Science
Coimbatore - 641 006
Tamil Nadu, India
Measures of Central Tendency
A measure of central tendency (also referred to as measures of centre or central
location) is a summary measure that attempts to describe a whole set of data with a single value
that represents the middle or centre of its distribution.

There are three main measures of central tendency:

• Mean or Arithmetic Mean

• Median
• Mode
• Harmonic Mean
• Geometric Mean

Each of these measures describes a different indication of the typical or central value
in the distribution.

Arithmetic Mean
It is a value obtained by adding together all the items and by dividing the total by the
number of items. It is also called average. It is the most popular and widely used measure for
representing the entire data by one value.

Arithmetic mean may be either:

1. Simple arithmetic mean, or

2. Weighted arithmetic mean.

Merits
1. It is simple to understand and easy to calculate.
2. It is affected by the value of every item in the series.
3. It is rigidly defined.
4. It is capable of further algebraic treatment.
 5. It is calculated value and not based on the position in the series.
Demerits
1. It is affected by extreme items i.e., very small and very large items.
2. It can hardly be located by inspection.
3. In some cases A.M. does not represent the actual item. For example, average patients
admitted in a hospital is 10.7 per day.
4. A.M. is not suitable in extremely asymmetrical distributions.

Median
Median may be defined as the size (actual or estimated) to that item which falls in the
middle of a series arranged either in the ascending order or the descending order of their
magnitude. It lies in the centre of a series and divides the series into two equal parts. Median
is also known as an average of position.

Merits
1. It is simple to understand and easy to calculate, particularly is individual and discrete
series.
2. It is not affected by the extreme items in the series.
3. It can be determined graphically.
4. For open-ended classes, median can be calculated.
5. It can be located by inspection, after arranging the data in order of magnitude.

Demerits
1. It does not consider all variables because it is a positional average.
2. The value of median is affected more by sampling fluctuations
3. It is not capable of further algebraic treatment. Like mean, combined median cannot be
calculated.
4. It cannot be computed precisely when it lies between two items.

Mode
Mode is that value a dataset, which is repeated most often in the database. In other
words, mode is the value, which is predominant in the series or is at the position of greatest
density. Mode may or may not exist in a series, or if it exists, it may not be unique, or its
position may be somewhat uncertain.
Merits
1. Mode is the most representative value of distribution, it is useful to calculate model
wage.
2. It is not affected by the extreme items in the series.
3. It can be determined graphically.
4. For open-ended classes, Mode can be calculated.
5. It can be located by inspection.

Demerits
1. It is not based on all observations.
2. Mode cannot be calculated when frequency distribution is ill-defined
3. It is not capable of further algebraic treatment. Like mean, combined mode cannot be
calculated.
4. It is not rigidly defined measure because several formulae to calculate mode is used.

Harmonic Mean
It is defined as the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean of the reciprocal of the individual
observations.

Merits
1. Like AM and GM, it is also based on all observations.
2. It is most appropriate average under conditions of wide variations among the items of
a series since it gives larger weight to smaller items.
3. It is capable of further algebraic treatment.
4. It is extremely useful while averaging certain types of rates and ratios.

Demerits
1. It is difficult to understand and to compute.
2. It cannot be computed when one of the values is 0 or negative.
3. It is necessary to know all the items of a series before it can be calculated.
4. It is usually a value which may not be a member of the given set of numbers.

Geometric Mean
It is defined as nth root of the product of n items or values.
Merits
1. It is not affected by the extreme items in the series.
2. It is rigidly defined and its value is a precise figure.
3. It is capable of further algebraic treatment.
4. It is Useful in calculating index number.

Demerits
1. It is difficult to understand and to compute.
2. It cannot be computed when one of the values is 0 or negative.
Mean
 Individual case

∑𝑥
𝑋̅ = 𝑛

Where
n is the number of observations

∑𝑑
(or) 𝑋̅ = 𝐴 + [ 𝑛 ]

Where
d=X-A
A is any arbitrary value given in the data
n is the number of observations

 Discrete case
∑ 𝑥𝑓
𝑋̅ = 𝑁

Where
𝑁 = ∑𝑓
∑ 𝑓𝑑
(or) 𝑋̅ = 𝐴 + [ 𝑁 ]

Where
𝑑 =𝑋−𝐴
A is any arbitrary value given in the data
𝑁 = ∑𝑓
 Continuous case

∑ 𝑥𝑓
𝑋̅ = 𝑁

Where
𝑁 = ∑𝑓
∑ 𝑓𝑑
(or) 𝑋̅ = 𝐴 + [ 𝑁 ] . 𝐶

Where
𝑋−𝐴
𝑑= 𝐶
A is any arbitrary value given in the data
𝑁 = ∑𝑓
C is the class interval
Problems
1. Find A.M. for the following data.
15, 20, 34, 45, 67, 34, 25, 67, 19, 87

Solution: (First Method)

∑𝑥
𝑋̅ = 𝑛
Total
X 15 20 34 45 67 34 25 67 19 87 413

∑𝑥 413
𝑋̅ = 𝑛 = 10 = 41.3

(Second Method)
∑𝑑
𝑋̅ = 𝐴 + [ ]
𝑛

X d=X-A
15 -30
20 -25
34 -11
45 0
67 22
34 -11
25 -20
67 22
19 -26
87 42
Total -37

Here, A=45.

∑𝑑 −37
𝑋̅ = 𝐴 + [ ] = 45 + [ ] = 41.3
𝑛 10
2. Find A.M. for the following data.

X 25 26 28 29 32 34 35 37
F 2 8 10 15 7 5 2 1

Solution: (First Method)

∑ 𝑥𝑓
𝑋̅ = 𝑁

X F xf
25 2 50
26 8 208
28 10 280
29 15 435
32 7 224
34 5 170
35 2 70
37 1 37
Total 50 1474

∑ 𝑥𝑓 1474
𝑋̅ = 𝑁 = 50 = 29.48

(Second Method)
∑ 𝑓𝑑
𝑋̅ = 𝐴 + [ 𝑁 ]

X F d=X-A fd
25 2 -7 -14
26 8 -6 -48
28 10 -4 -40
29 15 -3 -45
32 7 0 0
34 5 2 10
35 2 3 6
37 1 5 5
Total 50 -126

Here, A=32.

∑ 𝑓𝑑 −126
𝑋̅ = 𝐴 + [ 𝑁 ] = 32 + [ 50 ] = 29.48
3. Find A.M. for the following data.

X 25-30 30-35 35-40 40-45 45-50

F 5 12 20 8 3

Solution: (First Method)

∑ 𝑥𝑓
𝑋̅ = 𝑁

X F Mid X xf
25-30 5 27.5 137.5
30-35 12 32.5 390
35-40 20 37.5 750
40-45 8 42.5 340
45-50 3 47.5 142.5
Total 48 1760

∑ 𝑥𝑓 1760
𝑋̅ = = = 36.66
𝑁 48

(Second Method)

∑ 𝑓𝑑
𝑋̅ = 𝐴 + [ 𝑁 ] . 𝐶

X F Mid X d df
25-30 5 27.5 -2 -10
30-35 12 32.5 -1 -12
35-40 20 37.5 0 0
40-45 8 42.5 1 8
45-50 3 47.5 2 6
Total 48 -8

Here, A=37.5 and C=5.

∑ 𝑓𝑑 −8
𝑋̅ = 𝐴 + [ 𝑁 ] . 𝐶 = 37.5 + [ 48 ] . 5 = 36.66
Exercise Problems
1. Calculate mean from the following data:
40, 50, 55, 78, 58, 60, 73, 35, 43, 48

2. Calculate A.M. from the following data:

X 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70
F 722 824 765 825 744 632 922

3. Compute mean.
13, 15, 20, 22, 32

4. Compute mean.
Price 10 12 14 16
(Rs)
No. of 2 4 10 3
pens

5. Calculate A.M.
Wages(Rs) 0-100 100-200 200-300 300-400 400-500
No. of Workers 10 16 30 18 6

6. Calculate the arithmetic mean from the following data:

X 25-27 28-30 31-33 34-36 37-39 40-42
F 8 12 20 25 22 6