Chapter 3 – Measures of

Central Tendency and

Dispersion
Definition:
A measure of central tendency is any
single value that is used to identify the
“center” of the data or the typical
value. It is often referred to as the
average.
1. MEAN
 The most common average and sometimes
simply referred to as the mean.
 The sum of all the values of the observations
divided by the number of observations.
 The mean for a finite population with N
elements, denoted by the Greek Letter µ (mu).
Examples: Find the mean of the following:
1. The numbers of employees at 5 different gift shops are
4, 8, 10, 12, and 6. Find the mean number of
employees for the 5 stores.

Solution:
μ=
μ=
μ=8
2. Scores in the Mathematics 120 first long
quiz for a sample of 10 students are as follows:
84, 75, 90, 98, 88, 79, 95, 86, 93, and 89.

Solution:
=
=
= 87.7
2. MEDIAN
The positional middle of an array.
In an array, one-half of the values precede the
median and one-half follow it.

The first step in calculating the median, denoted by

Md, is to arrange the data in an array.
Let X(i) be the ith observation in the array, i = 1, 2,
3, …, N.
If N is odd, the median position equals , and the
value of the observation in the array is taken as the
median.
Md =
If N is even, the mean of the two values in the array
is the median.
Md =
Examples: Find the median of the given data set:
1. 75, 75, 67, 71, 72
1st step arrange the set in ascending order.
67, 71, 72, 75, 75
2nd step, since the number of sample is ODD number,
then the formula is: Md =
Solution: Md = = =
X3 means 3rd observation:
67, 71, 72, 75, 75; therefore 72 is the median.
2. 10, 10, 14, 17, 12, 15, 18, 11
1st step arrange the set in ascending order.
10, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18
2nd step, since the number of sample is EVEN number,
then the formula is: Md =
Solution: Md = = = Md =
X4 and X5 means 4th and 5th observations:
10, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18
Md = = 13, therefore the median is 13.
3. MODE
 It is the observed value that occurs most frequently.
 It locates the point where the observation values
occur with the greatest density.
 It does not always exist, and if it does, it may not be
unique. A data set is said to be unimodal if there is
only one mode, bimodal if there are two modes,
trimodal if there are three modes, and so on.
Examples: Identify the mode (s) of the following data set.
Data set 1 : 2 5 2 3 5 2
1
Mode is 2.
Data set 2:
2 5 5 2 2 5
2
3 5 4 2 5 5
2
Modes are 2 and 5.
Data set 3:
Red Blue Blue White Yellow Red
Blue Orange White Yellow Green
Mode is Blue.
Examples: Find the Mean, Median, and Mode.
Data Set 1: Grades of the 10 students in Statistics
88 89 90 85 84 79 89
88 87 94

Data Set 2: Weight (in kg) of the 20 patients in XYZ Hospital

50 55 45 65 45 45 55 60 65
70
56 53 45 71 72 64 60 59 46
71
Central Tendency from a
Frequency Distribution
Approximating the Mean from a
Frequency Distribution

Where: fi = the freq. of the ith class

xi = the class mark of the ith
class
k = total number of classes
n = total number of
observations
Example: Scores of 110 Students in an
Achievement Test
Score Frequency (fi) Class Mark (xi) fixi
50-54 10 52 520
55-59 3 57 171
60-64 8 62 496
65-69 13 67 871
70-74 17 72 1, 224
75-79 19 77
1, 463
80-84 22 82
1, 804
85-89 13 87
1, 131
90-94 4 92
95-99 1 97 368
TOTAL 110 97
8, 145
Solution:

=
= 74.05
Approximating the Median from a
Frequency Distribution

Where: LCBmd = lower class boundary of the median

class
c = class size of the median class
n = total number of observations
<CFmd-1 = less than cumulative frequency of the class
preceding the median class.
Fmd = frequency of the median class
Example: Scores of 110 Students in an
Achievement Test
Score Frequency (fi) LTCB <CF
50-54 10 49.5 10
55-59 3 54.5 13
60-64 8 59.5 21
65-69 13 64.5 34
70-74 17 69.5 51
75-79 19 74.5 70
80-84 22 79.5 92
85-89 13 84.5 105
90-94 4 89.5 109
95-99 1 94.5 110
TOTAL 110
Solution:
Median Class = = = 55 (<CF)
Score Frequency LCB <CF
50-54 10 49.5 10
55-59 3 54.5 13
60-64 8 59.5 21
LCB Md 65-69 13 64.5 34 <CF-1
70-74 17 69.5 51
75-79 19 74.5 70
Median
80-84 22 79.5 92 Class
Freq 85-89 13 84.5 105
90-94 4 89.5 109
95-99 1 94.5 110
Solution:

= 74.5 + 5
= 74.5 + 5
= 74.5 + 5
= 74.5 + 5(0.21)
= 74.5 + 1.05
Md = 75.55
Approximating the Mode from a
Frequency Distribution

Where: The modal class is the class with the highest

frequency
LCBmo = lower class boundary of the modal
class
c = class size of the modal class
fmo = frequency of the modal class
f1 = frequency of the class preceding the
modal class
Example: Scores of 110 Students in an
Achievement Test
Score Frequency (fi) LCB
50-54 10 49.5
55-59 3 54.5
60-64 8 59.5
65-69 13 64.5 f1
70-74 17 69.5
75-79 19 74.5 LCB Mo
80-84 22 79.5 Modal
85-89 13 84.5 Class
90-94 4 89.5
95-99 1 94.5 f2
TOTAL 110
Solution:

= 79.5 + 5 (0.25)
= 79.5 + 1.25
= 80.75
Examples: Find the Mean, Median, and Mode.

Tallying of Age (in years) of 40 Patients

5 5 34 7 10
15 13 51
20 23 21 25
25 24 27 31
31 26 32 33
33 36 35 38
42 42 40 43
44 45 45 50
Steps in the Construction of a Frequency
Distribution Table

Step 1: Determine the Range (R)

Range = 57 – 5 = 52
Step 2: Determine the number of classes (k)
k = = = 6.32 = 6 classes
Where N is the total number of observations in the data set.
Step 3: Determine the class size (c) by calculating first
the preliminary class size c’.
c’ = = = 8.67 or 9 interval
Step 4: Enumerate the classes or categories.
Step 5: Tally the observations.
Step 6: Compute the values in other columns of the
FDT as deemed necessary.
Frequency Distribution of Age (in years) of 40 Patients
Confined at a Certain Hospital
Age (in years) Tally Frequency
5 – 13 IIII 5
6 classes
14 – 22 IIII 5
and
9 interval 23 – 31 IIII - IIII 9
32 – 40 IIII - III 8
41 – 49 IIII - I 6
50 – 58 IIII - II 7
TOTAL 40
Activity 3: Find the Mean, Median, and Mode
of the given ungrouped data.
Data 1: Scores of 15 students in 10-item activity.
5 3 6 8 8 8 9
10
8 4 5 7 6 7 8

Data 2: Height (in cm) of 25 students of BSCS in CvSU - Carmona

154 134 156 158 169 154 145 148 149 150
140 142 156 154 160 168 159 160 158 156
158 160 158 159 161
Activity 3: Find the Mean, Median, and Mode
of the given grouped data.
7 8 10 12 12 14 27 29 28 29
18 8 17 24 26 30 32 36
38 37
10 22 21 15 10 33 37 18
38 40
11 21 27 22 33 40 35 38
24 18
7 15 20 25 27 31 32 36
40 38
 END OF
PRESENTATION!!