Summary of Measures

Summary Measures

Central Tendency Quartile Variation

Mean Mode
Median Range Coefficient of
Variation
Variance

Standard Deviation
Measures of Central Tendency
A measure of central tendency is a
descriptive statistic that describes the
average, or typical value of a set of scores.
There are three common measures of central
tendency:
the mean
the median
the mode
 The Mean
The mean is:
the arithmetic average of all the scores
(X)/N
the number, m, that makes (X - m) equal to 0
the number, m, that makes (X - m)2 a
minimum
The mean of a population is represented by
the Greek letter ; the mean of a sample is
represented by X
 Calculating the Mean for
Grouped Data

 f X
X 
N
where: f X = a score multiplied by its frequency

Mean affected by extreme values

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14

Mean = 5 Mean = 6
 When To Use the Mean

You should use the mean when

the data are interval or ratio scaled
Many people will use the mean with ordinally
scaled data too
and the data are not skewed
The mean is preferred because it is sensitive
to every score
If you change one score in the data set, the
mean will change
 Calculating the Mean
Calculate the mean of the following data:
1 5 4 3 2
Sum the scores (X):
1 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 = 15
Divide the sum (X = 15) by the number of
scores (N = 5):
15 / 5 = 3
Mean = X = 3
 Calculating the Mean for
Grouped Data
Score Number of
students
Find the mean of the following data:
10 3
Mean = 9 10
[3(10)+10(9)+9(8)+8(7)+10(6)+
2(5)]/42 = 7.57 8 9

7 8

6 10

5 2
 The Median
The median is simply another name for the
50th percentile
It is the score in the middle; half of the scores
are larger than the median and half of the scores
are smaller than the median
Not affected by extreme values
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14

Median = 5 Median = 5
How To Calculate the Median
Conceptually, it is easy to calculate the median
There are many minor problems that can occur; it
is best to let a computer do it
Sort the data from highest to lowest
Find the score in the middle
middle = (n + 1) / 2
If n, the number of scores, is even the median is
the average of the middle two scores
 Calculating the Median for
Grouped Data
N / 2  cf
Median  l  i
f

• To use this formula first determine median class.

Median class is that class whose less than type cumulative
frequency is just more than N / 2 ;
• l = lower limit of median class ;
• cf = less than type cumulative frequency of premedian
class;
• f = frequency of median class
•i= class width/class interval
 When To Use the Median

The median is often used when the

distribution of scores is either positively or
negatively skewed
The few really large scores (positively skewed)
or really small scores (negatively skewed) will
not overly influence the median
 Median Example
What is the median of the following scores:
10 8 14 15 7 3 3 8 12 10 9
Sort the scores:
15 14 12 10 10 9 8 8 7 3 3
Determine the middle score:
middle = (n + 1) / 2 = (11 + 1) / 2 = 6
Middle score = median = 9
 Median Example
What is the median of the following scores:
24 18 19 42 16 12
Sort the scores:
42 24 19 18 16 12
Determine the middle score:
middle = (n + 1) / 2 = (6 + 1) / 2 = 3.5
Median = average of 3rd and 4th scores:
(19 + 18) / 2 = 18.5
 Steps to Find Median of
Grouped Data
Step 1 Step 1: Construct the frequency
distribution table with class intervals and
frequencies.
Number of Cumulative
Marks
students frequency

0 - 20 6

20 - 40 20

40 - 60 37

60 - 80 10 15
Step 2: Calculate the cumulative frequency of
the data by adding the preceding value of the
frequency with the current value.

Number of Cumulative
Marks
students frequency

0 - 20 6 0+6 6

20 - 40 20 6 + 20 26

40 - 60 37 26 + 37 63

60 - 80 10 63 + 10 73

80 - 100 7 73 + 7 80
16
Step 3: Find the value of n by adding the
values in frequency.

Number of Cumulative
Marks
students frequency

0 - 20 6 0+6 6

20 - 40 20 6 + 20 26

40 - 60 37 26 + 37 63

60 - 80 10 63 + 10 73

80 - 100 7 73 + 7 80
n = 80

17
•Step 4: Find the median class. If n is odd, the
median is the (n+1/2). And if n is even, then the
median will be the average of the n/2th and the (n/2
+1)th observation.

Number of Cumulative
Marks
students frequency

0 - 20 6 0+6 6

20 - 40 20 6 + 20 26

40 - 60 37 26 + 37 63

60 - 80 10 63 + 10 73

80 - 100 7 73 + 7 80
n = 80

18
Since n is even, we will find the average of
the n/2th and the (n/2 +1)th observation i.e.
the cumulative frequency greater than 40 is
63 and the class is 40 - 60. Hence, the
median class is 40 - 60.
N = sum of cf = 80, N/2 = 80/2 = 40

19
 Calculating the Median for
Grouped Data
N / 2  cf
Median  l  i
f

• To use this formula first determine median class.

Median class is that class whose less than type cumulative
frequency is just more than N / 2 ;
• l = lower limit of median class ;
• cf = less than type cumulative frequency of premedian
class;
• f = frequency of median class
•i= class width/class interval
 l = 40, f = 37, c = 26, h = 20 
Using Median formula:
Median = l + [(n/2−c)/f] × h
= 40 + [(37 - 26)/40] × 20
= 40 + (11/40) × 20
= 40 + (220/40)
= 40 + 5.5
= 45.5
Therefore, the median is 45.5.
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22
Example 1: A survey on the heights (in cm)
of 50 girls of class X was conducted at a
school and the following data was obtained:

Height
120-130 130-140 140-150 150-160 160-170 Total
(in cm)

Number
2 8 12 20 8 50
of girls

23
Solution
Cumulati
n = 50, n/2 = 25
Class
Intervals
No. of
girls (fi)
ve
frequency
Median class = 150 - 160
(c) l = 150, c = 22, f = 20, h =
120-130 2 2 10
130-140 8 2 + 8 = 10
Median = l + [(n/2−c)/f] ×
140-150 12
10 + 12 =
22
h = 150 + [((50/2) -
22 + 20 =
22)/20] × 10 = 150 + 1.5 =
150-160 20
42 151.5
160-170 8
42 + 8 =
50
Therefore, the Median =
151.5.
24
 Example 2: The following table gives the
weekly expenditure of 200 families. Find the
median of the weekly expenditure.

1000 2000 3000 4000

Weekly 0- Tota
- - - -
Expenditure ($) 1000 l
2000 3000 4000 5000

Number of
34 12 43 60 51 200
Families
25
 Calculating the Mode for
Grouped Data
 f m  f1 
Mode  l   h
 2 f m  f1  f 2 
To use this formula first determine modal class.
Modal class is that class which has maximum
frequency ;
l = lower limit of modal class;
fm = maximum frequency;
f1 = frequency of pre modal class ;
f2 = frequency of post modal class
 The Mode
The mode is the score that occurs most frequently in
a set of data
Not Affected by Extreme Values
There May Not be a Mode
There May be Several Modes
Used for Either Numerical or Categorical Data

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Mode = 9 No Mode
 When To Use the Mode
The mode is not a very useful measure of
central tendency
It is insensitive to large changes in the data set
That is, two data sets that are very different from
each other can have the same mode
The mode is primarily used with nominally
scaled data
It is the only measure of central tendency that is
appropriate for nominally scaled data
 Example 2: The following table gives the
weekly expenditure of 200 families. Find the
median of the weekly expenditure.
Size of 1-3 3-5 5-7 7-9 9-11
Family
No. of 7 8 2 2 1
Families

• From the given table, it is observed that the maximum

class frequency is 8, and the corresponding class
interval is 3-5.
• Therefore, the modal class for the given data is 3-5.
• The lower limit of modal class, l = 3
• Class size, h = 2
• Frequency of modal class, f1 = 8
• Frequency of class proceeding to modal class, f0 = 7
29
• Frequency of class succeeding to modal class, f2 = 2
  f m  f1 
Mode  l   h
 2 f m  f1  f 2 

Mode=3+(8−72(8)−7−2)×2
Mode = 3 + (2/7)
Mode = (21+2)/7
Mode = 23/7
Mode = 3.286.
Therefore, the mode of the given
grouped data is 3.286.
30
 The information on the observed lifetimes (in hours) of
225 electrical components are given in the following
frequency table. Find the modal lifetimes of the
electrical components.

The lifetime of 0- 20- 40- 60- 80- 100-

electrical components 20 40 60 80 100 200
(in hours)

Frequency 10 35 52 61 38 29

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 Calculate Mean, Median & Mode

Problem 1 : Wages (in Rs) paid to workers of an organization are given

below. Calculate Mean, Median and Mode.

Wages ( C.I.) 40-60 60-80 80-100 100-120 120-140 140-160

No.of workers 50 80 30 20 50 20
(freq)

Problem 2 : Weekly demand for marine fish (in kg) (x) for 100 families is
given below. Calculate Mean, Median and Mode.

X 1 2 3 4 5 Total
No. of Families
20 50 20 5 5 100
(freq)