Chapter 3 3/4/2025

Chapter 3
Measure
of
location and dispersion

UNGROUPED/RAW DATA

BP Mdakane 1
Chapter 3 3/4/2025

Introduction

 This section is set to show how to analyze raw/ungrouped data.

 These analyses aim to get a value that shows the location and dispersion on the
scale of the dataset.
• The Arithmetic mean/Average (𝑥̅ )

Sum of all observations

Number of observations

• The Mode (Mo)

 The most repeated value(s) in the dataset.

Example: The following dataset represents rev counts (in RPM) of different cars:
900 800 1700 1800 900 1100 1300 1200 1100 1100 800 800

Mean:
∑ 𝑥 900 + 800 + 1700 + ⋯ + 800 + 800 13 500
𝑥̅ = = = = 1125
𝑛 12 12

Mode: 800 and 1100

BP Mdakane 2
Chapter 3 3/4/2025

• Percentiles
 Measure of position in the dataset.

 The percentile (𝑃 ), is the value that determines the position of 𝑖% of the data.
(0 ≤ 𝑖 ≤ 100).

• Commonly used percentiles (special cases): 𝑄 , 𝑀 , 𝑄

𝑄 =𝑃 first quartile/lower quartile

𝑀 =𝑃 median

𝑄 =𝑃 third quartile/upper quartile

• Computing percentiles:
1. Rearrange the dataset from lowest to highest values.

( )
2. Calculate the position using .

3. Find the observation in the rearranged data using the position value.

Example: Suppose the dataset represents the mileage(km) of different cars:

6, 47, 49, 15, 42, 41, 7, 39, 43, 40, 36, 56

Find 𝑄 , 𝑀 , 𝑄
1. Ordered Data Set: 6, 7, 15, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 47, 49, 56

BP Mdakane 3
Chapter 3 3/4/2025

1) 𝑄 = 𝑃
( ) ( )
Position = = = 3.25

𝑄 = 15 + 0.25 36 − 15 = 20.25 For Percentiles Calculations:

Do Not Use Any Alternative Method

2) 𝑀 = 𝑃 Either From Internet Or Other
( ) Textbooks
Position = = 6.50
(Only Recommended Textbook Is
Acceptable)
𝑃 = 40 + 0.5 41 − 40 = 40.50

3) Try it yourself!!! (Answer: 46)

• Finding the 20 percentile:

( ) ( )
Position = = = 2.60

𝑃 = 7 + 0.60 15 − 7 = 11.80

Measure of dispersion:
• Interquartile range (IQR)
𝐼𝑄𝑅 = 𝑄 − 𝑄
Example: Calculate the interquartile range of the data:
6, 47, 49, 15, 42, 41, 7, 39, 43, 40, 36, 56
𝑄 = 46.00
𝑄 = 20.25

𝐼𝑄𝑅 = 𝑄 − 𝑄 = 46.00 − 20.25 = 25.75

BP Mdakane 4
Chapter 3 3/4/2025

• Variance (𝒔𝟐 ) and standard deviation (𝒔).

Alternative:

Example: Using the mileage data from previous:

6, 47, 49, 15, 42, 41, 7, 39, 43, 40, 36, 56

𝑥 = 6 + 47 + 49 + ⋯ + 36 + 56 = 421

𝑥 = 6 + 47 + 49 + ⋯ + 36 + 56 = 17767

421
17767 −
𝑠 = 12 = 272.45 Variance
12 − 1

421
17767 − 12 Standard
𝑠= = 16.51 Deviation
12 − 1

BP Mdakane 5
Chapter 3 3/4/2025

Coefficient of variation (CV)

 It is used to compare the variation of datasets.

𝑠
𝐶𝑉 = × 100 expressed in %
𝑥̅

Example:
Data 1: 900 800 1700 1800 900 1100 1300 1200 1100 1100 800 800
Data 2: 6 47 49 15 42 41 7 39 43 40 36 56

𝑠 336.09
𝐶𝑉 = × 100 = × 100 = 29.88%
𝑥̅ 1125
𝑠 16.51
𝐶𝑉 = × 100 = × 100 = 47.06%
𝑥̅ 35.08

Interpretation: Data 1 is more preferred than Data 2 (i.e., Lowest CV between datasets).

GROUPED DATA

BP Mdakane 6
Chapter 3 3/4/2025

Introduction
• This chapter is set to show how to analyze grouped data.
• The aim of these analyses is to get a value that shows the location and dispersion
on the scale of the data.

• The Arithmetic mean (𝒙) Sum of product

mid-points and
frequencies of each
∑ 𝑥𝑓 class/row
𝑥̅ =
𝑛
Sum of frequencies

Example: The following data represents the number of telephone calls received for two
days at a municipal call centre. The data was measured per hour.

Calculating the mean (𝒙):

𝑓 𝑥 = 3 3.5 + 4 6.5 + ⋯ + 2 21.5 = 597

∑ 𝑓𝑥 597
𝑥̅ = = = 12.44
𝑛 48

BP Mdakane 7
Chapter 3 3/4/2025

The Mode (Mo):

How to estimate the mode using the histogram:

Number of telephone calls per hour at a municipal

call centre
16
15
14
Number of hours
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
[2-5) [5-8) [8-11) [11-14) [14-17) [17-20) [20-23)

Number of calls

Mode =± 12.3

Percentiles: Measure of position.

𝑖×𝑛 𝑖×𝑛
(𝑈 − 𝐿 ) −𝐹 𝑐 −𝐹
𝑃 =𝐿 + 100 =𝐿 + 100
𝑓 𝑓

𝑈 - upper class limit of percentile class.

𝐿 - lower class limit of percentile class.
𝑓 - frequency of percentile class
𝑛 - sample size
𝐹 - Cumulative frequency of the class before the percentile class.
𝑐 - class width.
Calculating the percentiles:
Step 1: Find the percentile class (row) using the cumulative frequency:
𝑖×𝑛
Position: 𝐹 ≥
100
Step 2: Write down all the information of the unknowns from the percentile class.

×
Step 3: Substitute in: 𝑃 = 𝐿 +

BP Mdakane 8
Chapter 3 3/4/2025

Example: Suppose we are given the following frequency distribution table.

 Determine 𝑃
Step 1: Find the percentile class (row) using the cumulative frequency column:
𝑖 × 𝑛 30 × 48
𝐹 ≥ = ≥ 14.4
100 100
The row that contains ≥ 14.4 observations is after 7 in the cumulative frequency – class -> [8 - 11)
Step 2: Write down all the information of the unknowns: 𝑟 = 3; 𝑈 = 11; 𝐿 = 8; 𝑐 = 3; 𝑓 = 11; 𝐹 = 7

×
.
Step 3: Substitute in 𝑃 : 𝑃 =𝐿 + =8+ = 10.02

Calculate the Median

×
Step 1: 𝐹 = ≥ 24
Row that contains ≥ 24 observations is after 18 in the cumulative frequency
– class -> [11 - 14)

Step 2: The class limit 11 – 14 is in the 4th row 𝑟 = 4

𝐿 = 11; 𝑐 = 3; 𝑓 = 13; 𝐹 = 18

×
Step 3: Substitute in: 𝑃 = 𝐿 +

50 × 48
3 − 18
100
𝑀 =𝑃 = 11 + = 12.38
13

BP Mdakane 9
Chapter 3 3/4/2025

Measure of Dispersion
Interquartile range (IQR)
𝐼𝑄𝑅 = 𝑄 − 𝑄

Example: Calculate the interquartile range of the data:

75 48
17 − 14
100
𝑄 = 14 + = 15.67
9

25 48
11 − 8
100
𝑄 =8+ = 9.36
11

𝐼𝑄𝑅 = 𝑄 − 𝑄 = 15.67 − 9.36 = 6.31

Estimating the percentiles using the Ogive:

Ogive of number of telephone calls received per

hour at a municipal call centre.
100
90
80
Number of hours

70
% Cumulative

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26

Number of calls

𝑷𝟓𝟎 = 𝑴𝒆 = ±𝟏𝟐. 𝟒𝟎
𝑷𝟑𝟎 = ±𝟏𝟎. 𝟎𝟐

BP Mdakane 10
Chapter 3 3/4/2025

The Variance (𝒔𝟐 ) and Standard deviation (𝒔):

∑ 𝑓𝑥
∑ 𝑓𝑥 − ∑ 𝑓 𝑥 − 𝑛𝑥̅
𝑠 = 𝑛 Variance
𝑠 =
𝑛−1 𝑛−1

∑ ∑ 𝑓 𝑥 − 𝑛𝑥̅ Standard
𝑓𝑥 𝑠=
∑ 𝑓𝑥 − deviation
𝑛 𝑛−1
𝑠=
𝑛−1
Class limits Frequency (f) F Midpoint (x) 𝒇𝒙 𝒇𝒙𝟐
[2 – 5) 3 3 3.5 10.5 36.75
[5 – 8) 4 7 6.5 26 169
[8 – 11) 11 18 9.5 104.5 992.75
[11 – 14) 13 31 12.5 162.5 2031.25
[14 - 17) 9 40 15.5 139.5 2162.25
[17 – 20) 6 46 18.5 111 2053.5
[20 – 23) 2 48 21.5 43 924.5
Total n=48 597 8370

Calculating the variance and standard deviation:

• Variance:
∑ 𝑓𝑥 597
∑ 𝑓𝑥 − 8370 −
𝑠 = 𝑛 = 48 = 20.10
𝑛−1 48 − 1

• Standard deviation:
597
8370 −
𝑠= 48 = 20.10 = 4.48
48 − 1
Calculating coefficient of variation:

𝑠 × 100 (4.48)(100)
𝐶𝑉 = = = 36.01%
𝑥̅ 12.44

BP Mdakane 11