MODE

Mode is defined as the value of the variable which has most frequent occurrence. It is also the point having
maximum frequency or greatest density. The mode is of the greatest practical utility to large scale manufacturer of
consumer goods.

Computation of mode;
The following methods prove helpful in the computation of the mode.
 If the measure of each item in a series is known, then the mode is the size of the item which occurs most
frequently.
 For a frequency distribution with regular class intervals, the mode is computed from either of the following
formulae,

Mode, M0 =L +
( ∆1
∆ 1+ ∆ 2 ) (
C , or M0 =L +
f −f a
)
2 f −f a −f b
C

where ∆ 1=f −f a and ∆ 2=f −f b such that f is the modal frequency, f a is the frequency of class interval
lower than modal class interval and f b is the frequency of class interval higher than the modal class interval.
Where L =is the lower-class boundary of the modal class interval
frequency
∆ 1 i s the excess of modal of the next lower class interval
frquency
∆ 2 is the excess of modal frequency over frequency of the next higher-class interval.
C is the class size of the modal class interval.
Example 1:
Find the Mode of the following data: 19, 13, 18, 14, 12, 25, 11, 10, 17, 23, 19.
Mode = 19 since it appears most frequently in this data set as compared to other observations.

Example 2: Find the mode of the data: 2, 4, 8, 7, 9, 4, 6, 10, 8, and 5.

Solution
Array: 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10
Mode 4 and 8 i.e. the data is bimodal
The modal class (class with the highest frequency) is 19.5-24.5 therefore

Grouped data Mode

Mode, M0 =L +
( ∆1
∆ 1+ ∆ 2 )
C=19.5+
8
32 ( )
5=20.75

Exercise
a) Find the mean median and mode for the following data: 9, 3, 4, 2, 9, 5, 8, 4, 7, 4
b) Find the mean median and mode of 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 8 and 9 3. The
number of goals scored in 15 hockey matches is shown in the table.
No of goals 1 2 3 4 5
No of matches 2 1 5 3 4
Calculate the mean number of goals cored
c) The table shows the heights of 30 students in a class, calculate an estimate of the mean, mode and
median height.
Height (cm) 140<x<144 144<x<148 148<x<152 152<x<156 156<x<160 160<x<164
No of students 4 5 8 7 5 1

d) Estimate the mean, median and mode for the following frequency distribution:
Class 1-4 5-8 9-12 13-16 17-20 21-24
 frequency 10 14 20 16 12 8

Class 40-59 60-79 80-99 100-119 120-139 140-159 160-179 180-199

Freq. 5 12 32 40 16 9 6
Other Types of Means
These will include weighted, harmonic and geometric means
2.2.1 Weighted average
The Weighted Arithmetic Mean The weighted arithmetic mean of a set of n numbers x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , … , x n having
corresponding weights w 1 , w 2 , w3 , … , wnis defined as
w 1 x 1+ w2 x 2+ …+w n x n ∑ wi x i
x w= =
w1 + w2 +…+ wn ∑ wi
Example 1: Consider the following table with marks obtained by two students James (mark x) and John (mark y).
The weights are to be used in determining who joins the engineering course whose requirement is a weighted mean
of 58% on the four subjects below.

Subject Maths English History Physics Total

Mark x 25 87 83 30 225
Mark y 70 45 35 75 225
Weight 3.6 2.3 1.5 2.6 10

Working the products of the marks and the weights we get

Subject Maths English History Physics Total
Wx 90 200.1 124.5 78 492.6
Wy 252 103.5 52.5 195 603

x w=
∑ w i x i = 492.6 =49.26 and y = ∑ wi y i = 603 =60.3
∑ wi 10 w
∑ wi 10
Clearly John qualifies but James does not

Example 2: If a final examination is weighted 4 times as much as a quiz, a midterm examination 3 times as much as
a quiz, and a student has a final examination grade of 80, a midterm examination grade of 95 and quiz grades of 90,
65 and 70, the mean grade is
1 ( 90 ) +1 ( 65 ) +1 ( 70 )+ 3 ( 95 ) +4 (80) 830
x= = =83
1+1+1+3+ 4 10
Question 1: A tycoon has 3 house girls who he pays Ksh 4,000 each per month, 2 watch men who he pays Ksh
5,000 each and some garden men who receives Ksh 7,000 each. If he pays out an average of Ksh 5,700 per month to
these people, find the number of garden men.
Question 2: A student’s grades in laboratory, lecture, and recitation parts of a computer course were 71, 78, and 89,
respectively.
(a) If the weights accorded these grades are 2,4, and 5, respectively, what is an average grade?
(b) What is the average grade if equal weights are used?
The Geometric and Harmonic Means
Let x1, x2 ...., xn be the sample values, the geometric mean GM is given by
GM =√n x 1 × x 2 × x3 … . × x n
n n
HM = =
1 1 1 1 1
+ + +…+
x1 x2 x3 xn
∑ xi
The Relation between the Arithmetic, Geometric and Harmonic Means
HM ≤ GM ≤ X
The formulas for geometric and harmonic means of a frequency distribution are respectively given by;
n
GM ⟹ log ( GM ) =
∑ f i log xi and
HM =
f
n ∑ xi
i
Example 1: Find the harmonic and the geometric mean of the numbers 2,4 and 8.
Solution: The geometric mean GM =√ 3
2× 4 × 8= √ 64=4 and
3

3 3 34
HM = = = =3.43
1 1 1 7 7
+ +
2 4 8 8
Example 2: Find the harmonic and geometric mean of the frequency table
x 13 14 15 16 17
f 2 5 13 7 3

Solution
3
HM = =15
2 5 13 7 3
+ + + +
13 14 15 16 17
GM = √ 132 ×14 5 ×15 13 ×16 7 × 173=15.09837
30

Exercise:
1. Find the harmonic and the geometric mean of the numbers 10, 12, 15, 5 and 8
2. The number of goals scored in 15 hockey matches is shown in the table below. Calculate the
harmonic and geometric mean number of goals scored.
No of goals 1 3 5 6 9
No of matches 2 1 5 3 4

3. Find the harmonic and geometric mean of the frequency table below
Class 0-29 30-49 50-79 80-99
Frequency 20 30 40 10