MEASURES OF

CENTRAL
TENDENCY
� Summation Notation
� Mean

� Median

� Mode
Summation Notation

stopping point/
upper limit
n
summation sign
(Greek letter
sigma)
∑ xi
i =1
typical element

starting point/
index of lower limit
summation
Example 1
4
a. ∑x
1
i = x1 + x2 + x3 + x4
3
b. ∑x y
1
i i = x1 y1 + x2 y2 + x3 y3
4
2
c. ∑x i = x2 2 + x32 + x4 2
2
3
d. ∑(x + y ) = (x
2
i 5 2 + y5 ) + ( x3 + y5 )
Rules on Summation

Rule #1: Summation is distributive over addition

n n n

∑ ( x + y ) =∑ x + ∑ y
i =1
i i
i =1
i
i =1
i

Rule #2: If c is a constant

n n

∑ cx
i =1
i = c ∑ xi
i =1

Rule #3: If c is a constant

n

∑ c = nc
i =1
Example 2 :
3 3 3

∑ (3x + 2) = ∑ 3x + ∑ 2
1
i
1
1
1
rule1
3
= 3 ∑ xi + 3(2) rule 2 and rule 3
1

= 3 ( x1 + x2 + x3 ) + 6
Examples: Summation Notation
Examples: Summation Notation
Find the value of the following expressions, given:
i 1 2 3
xi -2 3 1
yi 1 -1 0

3 3

∑x i = ∑x y
i =1
i i =
i =1

3 3 2 ⎛ xi +1 ⎞
∑x ∑y = ∑ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ =
i i i =1 ⎝ yi ⎠
i =1 i −1
A measure of central tendency is any single value
that is used to identify the “center” of the data or
typical value.

3 Types:
1.Mean
2.Median
3.Mode
 MEAN MEDIAN
• Sum of all observed • Defined as the positional
values divided by the middle value when
number of observations are
observations ordered from smallest to
largest (or vice versa)
MODE
• The observed value that occurs most
frequently.
• The data is said to be unimodal if there is
only one mode, bimodal if there are two
modes, trimodal if there are three modes.

Quantitative Data Quantitative Data Quantitative & Qualitative Data

• Most popular measure • Extreme values do not • May not exist

of central location affect the median as • May also not be unique
• Affected by extreme strongly as they do the • Extreme values do not affect the mode.
values mean • Not necessarily unique - may have more than
• It is unique - there is • Useful when comparing one value.
only one answer. sets of data • When no values repeat in the data set, the
• Useful when comparing • It is unique - there is mode is every value and is useless.
sets of data. only one answer. • When there is more than one mode, it is
difficult to interpret and/or compare
 Mean
Median
and
Mode
of ungrouped data
The Arithmetic Mean
Formula for getting the mean of ungrouped data:
n

∑x
i =1
i
X= , where n is the number of observations
n
EXAMPLE#1: MEAN
Data: 4 6 5 7 3 4 5 4

EXAMPLE#2: MEAN
Data: Scores of 14 students in Math122a Midterm exam
72 83 84 82 72 80 79 80 76 80 85 79 90 91
� What is the mean?

� What if a 15th student took the Midterm exam just by guessing and got a
score of 10?
� What happens to the mean?
The Median
How to get the median of ungrouped data:
•Arrange the scores in ascending or descending order.
•If n is odd, the median is the middle score, if n is even the median is the average of
the two middlemost score.(n is the number of observations)
For values of Xi, for i = 1,2,3, …, n
M d = X n +1 For n that is odd
2

For n that is even

EXAMPLE#1: MEDIAN Data: 4 6 5 7 3 4 5 4

EXAMPLE#2: MEDIAN Data: 4 6 5 3 4 5 4

The Mode
How to find the mode of ungrouped data:
� Simply find the score or the value that occurs the most

EXAMPLE#1: MODE
Data: 4 6 5 7 3 4 5 4
EXAMPLE#2: MODE
Data: 72 83 64 82 71 60 79

EXAMPLE#3: MODE
Data: Blood Type of 20 patients in UMC

A, A, AB, O, O, B, A, O, O, O, A, A, A, B, B, O, B, B, B, AB
 Mean
Median
and
Mode
of grouped data
 The Arithmetic Mean

Formula for getting the mean of grouped data:

k

∑fx
i =1
i i
X=
n
where:
fi = the frequency of the ith class
xi = the class mark of the ith class
k = total number of classes
n = total number of observations

1. The formula cannot be used if a frequency distribution has open ended intervals.
2. The mean frequency distribution is a weighted mean of the class marks, where
the fi's are the weights.
 ⎛n ⎞
⎜ − < CFmd −1 ⎟
Md = LCBmd + c⎜ 2 ⎟
⎜ f md ⎟
⎜ ⎟ Remarks:
⎝ ⎠
1.The median is the positioal
middle of an array.

2. In an array, one-half of the

values precede the median and
one-half follow it.
The Mode

Formula for getting the mode of grouped data:

⎛ f mo − f1 ⎞
Mo = LCBmo + c⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
⎝ 2 f mo − f1 − f 2 ⎠
where:
LCBmo = the lower class boundary of the modal class
c = class size
fmo = frequency of the modal class
f1 = frequency of the class preceding the modal class
f2 = frequency of the class following the modal class

Locating the modal class: Class with the highest frequency.

Table: Scores of 110 Students in an Achievement Test

Find the mean, median and mode.

Find the mean
Score Frequency Class Mark(xi) fi . xi
k
(fi)
50-54 10 52 520 ∑fx
i =1
i i

55-59 3 57 171 X=
n
60-64 8 62 496
__
65-69 13 67 871 8145
70-74 17 72 1224 x = 110 = 74
75-79 19 77 1463
80-84 22 82 1804 The mean (average) of 110
85-89 13 87 1131 students in the achievement
90-94 4 92 368 test is 74.0.
95-99 1 97 97
TOTAL 110 8145
Find the median Step1: Find the median class. The
class with <CF greater than or equal
Score Frequency Class Mark(xi) fi . xi <CF to n/2. (0r 110/2=55).
(fi) Step 2: Use the formula below:
50-54 10 52 520 10
⎛n ⎞
55-59 3 57 171 13 ⎜ − < CFmd −1 ⎟
60-64 8 62 496 21 Md = LCBmd + c⎜ 2 ⎟
⎜ f md ⎟
65-69 13 67 871 34 ⎜ ⎟
⎝ ⎠
70-74 17 72 1224 51
75-79 19 77 1463 70 ⎛ 55 − 51 ⎞
Md = 74.5 + 5 ⎜ ⎟ = 75.6
80-84 22 82 1804 92 ⎝ 19 ⎠
85-89 13 87 1131 105
The median of 110 students in
90-94 4 92 368 109 the achievement test is 75.6.
95-99 1 97 97 110
TOTAL 110 8145
Find the m Step1: Find the modal class. The
class with the highest frequency.
Score Frequency
(fi) Step 2: Use the formula below:
50-54 10
55-59 3 ⎛ f mo − f1 ⎞
Mo = LCBmo + c⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
60-64 8
⎝ 2 f mo − f1 − f 2 ⎠
65-69 13
70-74 17 ⎛ 22 − 19 ⎞
f1 M o = 79.5 + 5 ⎜
75-79 19 ⎟ = 80.8
80-84 22 ⎝ 2(22) − 19 − 13 ⎠
85-89 13 f2 The mode of 110 students in
90-94 4 the achievement test is 80.8.
95-99 1
TOTAL 110
Exercise: Find the mean, median and mode :
The distribution of the number of Number of Number of
mistakes made by 200 students Mistakes Students
taking Korean in a multiple- 6-10 12
choice quiz on vocabulary is as
follows: 11-15 73

16-20 52

21-25 39

26-30 24

TOTAL 200