Chapter 2

MEASURES OF
CENTRAL
TENDENCY
Summary Measures
Central Tendency
Mean
Median
Mode
Quartile
Summary Measures
Variation
Variance
Standard Deviation
Coefficient of
Variation
Range
CHAPTER 2

When statisticians study a group of
measurements, they try to determine which
measure is most representative of the group.
The score about which most of the other scores
tend to cluster is a measure of central
tendency. Three measures of central tendency
are the mode, the median and the mean.

Measure of Central
Tendency
In statistics, the term central tendency
relates to the way in which quantitative data
tend to cluster around some value. A
measure of central tendency is any of a
number of ways of specifying this "central
value".
Measure of Central
Tendency
Measures of Central Tendency
Central Tendency
Mean
Median
Mode
n
x
n
i
i

1
A. The Mean
1. Arithmetic Mean
2. Weighted Mean

The mean is the most commonly-used
type of average and is often referred to
simply as the average. The term "mean" or
"arithmetic mean" is preferred in
mathematics and statistics to distinguish it
from other averages such as the median
and the mode.

1. Arithmetic Mean
1. Arithmetic Mean
It is the Arithmetic Average of data values:


The Most Common Measure of Central Tendency
Easily Affected by Extreme Values (Outliers)
n
x
n
1 i
i

n
x x x
n 2 i

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
x
Sample Mean
Population Mean
N
x
N
i
i

If the set of data x

1
, x
2
, . x
N
, not
necessarily all distinct, represents a finite
population of size N, then the population
mean is
1. Arithmetic Mean
Example
The number of employees at 5 different
drugstores are 3, 5, 6, 4 and 6. Treating the
data as a population. Find the mean
number of employees for the 5 stores
1. Arithmetic Mean
Solution
The number of employees at 5 different drugstores
are 3, 5, 6, 4 and 6. Treating the data as a population.
Find the mean number of employees for the 5 stores
8 . 4
5
6 4 6 5 3

1. Arithmetic Mean
Sample Mean
n
x x
n
i
i

1
If the set of data x
1
, x
2
, . x
n
, not
necessarily all distinct, represents a finite
sample of size n, then the sample mean is
1. Arithmetic Mean
Example
A food inspector examined a random sample
of 7 cans of a certain brand of tuna to
determine the percent of foreign impurities.
The following data were recorded: 1.8, 2.1, 1.7,
1.6, 0.9, 2.7 and 1.8. Compute the sample
mean
1. Arithmetic Mean
Solution
A food inspector examined a random sample of 7
cans of a certain brand of tuna to determine the
percent of foreign impurities. The following data
were recorded: 1.8, 2.1, 1.7, 1.6, 0.9, 2.7 and 1.8.
Compute the sample mean
% 8 . 1
7
8 . 1 7 . 2 9 . 0 6 . 1 7 . 1 1 . 2 8 . 1

x
1. Arithmetic Mean
Characteristics of the Mean:

1. It is most familiar measure used, and employs all
available information.

2. It is affected by the value of every observation. In
particular it is strongly influenced by extreme
values.

3. Since the mean is calculated number, it may not be
an actual number in the data set.

Characteristics of the Mean:

4. Is possesses two mathematical properties that will prove to be
important in subsequent analyses.
The sum of the deviations of the values from the mean is
zero.
The sum of the squared deviations is minimum when the
deviations are taken from the mean.
5. If a contract c is added (subtracted) to all observations, the
mean of the new observations will increase (decrease) by the
same amount c.
6. If all observations are multiplied or divided by a constant, the
new observations will have a mean that is the same constant
multiple of the original mean.


The Mean (Arithmetic Average)
The Mean (Arithmetic Average)
The Mean (Arithmetic Average)
The Mean (Arithmetic Average)
Average
Points per
Game
The Mean (Arithmetic Average)
The Mean
Using Microsoft Excel
=average(A2:A41)
A modification of the usual mean that
assigns weights (or measures of relative
importance) to the observations to be
averaged. If each observation X
i
is
assigned a weight W
i
, i = 1, 2,, n,
The weighted mean is given by




2. Weighted Mean

n
i
n
i
W
X W
X
1
1
1
1 1
w
___

Example:
Alexs grades for the second semester AY 1996-1997 are as
follows:
History 1.0
Humanities 1.0
Math 19 3.0
Math 53 3.0
Philosophy 1.0

Math 53 is a 5-unit course and all others are 3-unit
course. Find Alexs GWA for the semester

2. Weighted Mean
In probability theory and statistics, a
median is described as the numeric value
separating the higher half of a sample, a
population, or a probability distribution, from
the lower half. The median of a finite list of
numbers can be found by arranging all the
observations from lowest value to highest
value and picking the middle one. If there is
an even number of observations, then there is
no single middle value, so one often takes the
mean of the two middle values.

B. The Median
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
Important Measure of Central Tendency
In an ordered array, the median is the
middle number.
If n is odd, the median is the middle number.
If n is even, the median is the average of the 2
middle numbers.
Not Affected by Extreme Values
B. The Median
B. The Median
Notation
population median

~
x
~
sample median
Example
On a 5 term test in sociology a student has
made grades of 82, 93, 86, 92 and 79. Find the
median for this population of grades.
B. The Median
Solution
On a 5 term test in sociology a student has
made grades of 82, 93, 86, 92 and 79. Find the
median for this population of grades.
79, 82, 86, 92, 93
86
~

B. The Median
Example
The nicotine contents for a random sample of 6
cigarettes of a certain brand are found to be 2.3,
2.7, 2.5, 2.9, 3.1 and 1.9 milligrams. Find the
median
B. The Median
The Median
Solution
The nicotine contents for a random sample of 6
cigarettes of a certain brand are found to be 2.3, 2.7,
2.5, 2.9, 3.1 and 1.9 milligrams. Find the median
1.9, 2.3, 2.5, 2.7, 2.9, 3.1
6 . 2
2
) 7 . 2 5 . 2 (
~

x
Characteristics of the Median:

1. The median is a position measure.

2. The median is affected by the position of
each item in the series but not by the value
of each item. This means that extreme
values affect the median less than the
arithmetic mean.

The Median
The Median
Using Microsoft Excel
=median(A2:A41)
The mode of a set of numbers is the
element that appears most frequently in the
set. There can be more than one mode in a
set of numbers. A set that has two modes is
bimodal, and one that has three modes is
trimodal. If no element of a set appears more
often than any other element, the set has no
mode. The mode is an important measure for
business people. It tells them what items are
most popular with consumers.












C. Mode
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Mode = 9
A Measure of Central Tendency
Value that Occurs Most Often
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
No Mode
C. Mode
Example
If the donations from the residents of Fairway
Forest toward the Virginia Lung Association
are recorded as 9, 10, 5, 9, 9, 7, 8, 6, 10 and 11
dollars. Find the mode
C. Mode
Solution
If the donations from the residents of Fairway
Forest toward the Virginia Lung Association
are recorded as 9, 10, 5, 9, 9, 7, 8, 6, 10 and 11
dollars. Find the mode
9 is the mode
C. Mode
Example
The number of movies attended last month by
a random sample of 12 MAS students were
recorded as follows: 2, 0, 3, 1, 2, 4, 2, 5, 4, 0, 1,
and 4. Find the mode
C. Mode
Solution
The number of movies attended last month by
a random sample of 12 MAS students were
recorded as follows: 2, 0, 3, 1, 2, 4, 2, 5, 4, 0, 1,
and 4. Find the mode
0 1 2 3 4 5
Mode = 2 and 4
C. Mode
Characteristics of the Mode:

1. It does not always exist; and if it does, it may not
be unique. A data is set to be unimodal if there is
only one mode, bimodal if there are two modes,
trimodal if there are three modes, and so on.

2. It is not affected by extreme values.

3. The mode can be used for qualitative as well as
quantitative data.

The Mode
Using Microsoft Excel
=mode(A2:A41) Pivot table
QUIZ
1. GIVEN: Age( In years) Of a random sample of
40 patients confined at a certain hospital.
5 32 20 38 31 33 7 42
10 30 15 40 33 36 5 51
13 23 42 52 44 35 20 57
21 25 50 55 53 24 25 45
26 34 27 57 45 15 31 43
Compute the mean, median, and mode
QUIZ
2. The following are the weight losses ( in pounds) of 25 individuals
who enrolled in a 5-week weight-control program:
9 7 10 11 10
5 4 8 10 9
11 8 3 6 9
9 2 3 11 8
12 5 4 7 4
Compute the mean, median, and mode
1. BSN3-1 students have the following scores in their
final examination in Statistics:
79, 90, 80, 65, 71, 98, 82, 65, 55, 80
Treating the data as population, compute the mean,
median and mode
2. An inspector saw a random sample of 5 bottles of soft
drinks not in proper content for one liter:
0.85, 0.89, 0.78, 0.75, and 0.82 liters.
Compute the mean, median and mode
3. A student gets the following grade in his 5 subjects:
87 for Calculus; 82 for Physics, 79 for Chemistry;
81 for English; and 83 for History. Compute the
weighted mean if the weight for the 5 subjects are 5,
4, 4, 3, and 3, respectively.
A. MEAN (GROUPED DATA)




Where fi = frequency of the ith class
x
i
= the class mark of the ith class
k = total number of classes
n = total number of observations


Remarks:

1. The formula for approximating the mean
cannot be used if a frequency distribution
has openended intervals, unless there are
reasonably accurate estimates of the class
for the open intervals.

2. The mean of frequency distribution is
simply a weighted mean of the class marks,
where the f
i
`s

are the weights.


B. MEDIAN (GROUPED DATA)
Step 1. Compute n/2
Step 2. Locate the median class
Median class- the class interval whose
<CF is equal, or greater than n/2 for the
first time.
Step 3. Use the formula







Where fi = frequency of the ith class
x
i
= the class mark of the ith class
k = total number of classes
n = total number of observations


C. MODE (GROUPED DATA)
Step 1. Locate the modal class
Modal class- the class interval having
the highest frequency
Step 3. Use the formula



where:
LCB
Mo
= lower class boundary of
the modal class
c = class size of the modal class
f
Mo
= frequency of the modal class
f
b
= frequency of the class preceding
the modal class
f
a
= frequency of the class following
the modal class


EXAMPLE 1. Age( In years) Of 40 patients
Confined at a certain hospital.
5 32 20 38 31 33 7 42
10 30 15 40 33 36 5 51
13 23 42 52 44 35 20 57
21 25 50 55 53 24 25 45
26 34 27 57 45 15 31 43
ARRAY
5 15 23 27 33 38 44 52
5 15 24 30 33 40 45 53
7 20 25 31 34 42 45 55
10 20 25 31 35 42 50 57
13 21 26 32 36 43 51 57
Range: (HV-LV)
97-80 = 57-5 =52

K: (1+3.322logN)
1+3.322log40 = 6.32 or 6

Class Size: R = 52 = 8.68 or 9
K 6
Frequency Distribution Table
Age( In years) Of 40 patients Confined at a
certain hospital.
Age
(classes) frequency LCB UCB CM RF %RF <CF >CF
5 - 13 5 4.5 13.5 9 0.125 12.5 5 40
14 - 22 5 13.5 22.5 18 0.125 12.5 10 35
23 - 31 9 22.5 31.5 27 0.225 22.5 19 30
32 - 40 8 31.5 40.5 36 0.2 20 27 21
41 - 49 6 40.5 49.5 45 0.15 15 33 13
50 - 58 7 49.5 58.5 54 0.175 17.5 40 7
TOTAL 40 100
FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION TABLE
(Systolic Blood Pressures of 100 patients at MV
Santiago Medical Center)

Class Interval (systolic blood
pressure in mm mercury)
frequency Percent

90-99 5 5
100-109 10 10
110-119 19 19
120-129 20 20
130-139 16 16
140-149 12 12
150-159 9 9
160-169 3 3
170-179 4 4
180-189 0 0
190-199 1 1
200-209 1 1