Chapter 3: Measures of Central Tendency

Measures of Central Tendency

- Defined as the tendency of the same observations or cases to cluster about the
point, with either to an absolute value or to a frequency of occurrence; midway
between the extreme high and extreme low values in distribution.

I. MEAN
Mean
- The mean of data indicates how the data are distributed around the central part
of the distribution.

Arithmetic Mean (Average)

- The most popular measure used to represent a set of numbers of a single number.

Sample Mean
- Sample Mean only considers a selected number of observations from the population
data.

𝑛
∑ 𝑥𝑖
𝑖=1
𝑥̄ = 𝑛

Population Mean
- Population Mean considers all the observations in the population.

𝑁
∑ 𝑥𝑖
𝑖=1
µ = 𝑁

Ungrouped Data
- Is the data you first gather from an experiment or study. The data is raw - that is, it’s not
sorted into categories, classified, or otherwise grouped. An ungrouped set of data is
basically a list of numbers.

Mean for Ungrouped Data

 𝑛
∑ 𝑥𝑖
𝑖=1 𝑥1+𝑥2+𝑥3+...+𝑥𝑛
𝑥̄ = 𝑛
= 𝑛

Example:

Marks obtained by 10 students are as follows:

80, 72, 80, 75, 60, 47, 42, 50, 87, 51

𝑛
∑ 𝑥𝑖
𝑖=1 𝑥1+𝑥2+𝑥3+...+𝑥𝑛 80+72+80+75+60+47+42+50+87+51 644
𝑥̄ = 𝑛
= 𝑛
= 10
= 10
= 64. 4

Grouped Data
- Are data formed by aggregating individual observations of a variable into groups, so that
a frequency distribution of these groups serves as convenient means of summarizing or
analyzing the data.

Mean for Grouped Data

𝑁
∑ 𝑓𝑖 𝑥𝑖
µ= 𝑖=1
𝑁
xi = midpoints of the class intervals
fi = corresponding frequencies
N = total number of values

Example:

Class intervals Frequencies Class Midpoints fx

(Exam Scores) (f) (x)

50-59 9 54.5 490.5

60-69 13 64.5 838.5

70-79 5 74.5 372.5

80-89 17 84.5 1436.5

90-99 6 94.5 567

 N=50 𝑁
∑ 𝑓𝑥 = 3705
𝑖=1

𝑁
∑ 𝑓𝑖 𝑥𝑖
𝑖=1 3705
µ= 𝑁
= 50
= 74. 1

Mean by Deviation Method

- The deviation of any one group from any other group may then be measured in terms of
class intervals.

∑ 𝑓𝑑
µ = 𝑀+ 𝑁
𝐶 𝑀 = arbitrary or guessed mean
f = frequencies
d = deviation from the guessed mean
C = class interval
N = total number of values

Example:

Class intervals Class Frequencies Deviations fd

(Exam Scores) Midpoints (f) (d)
(x)

50-59 54.5 9 -2 -18

60-69 64.5 13 -1 -13

70-79 74.5 5 0 0

80-89 84.5 17 1 17

90-99 94.5 6 2 12

N=50
∑ 𝑓𝑑 = -2

∑𝑓𝑑
(−2)
µ =𝑀+ 𝑁
𝐶 = 74. 5 + 50
(10) = 74. 5 − 0. 4 = 74. 1

II. MEDIAN
Median
➔ a set of n measurements is the value x that falls in the middle position when the
measurements are ordered from smallest to largest.

Examples

1. The number of students in the seven classes at the college of engineering are
26. 35, 42, 30, 55, 37, and 29. Find the median.

Solution:

Step 1. Arrange the data in order

26, 29, 30, 35, 37, 42, 55

Step 2. Select the middle value

26, 29, 30, 35, 37, 42, 55

Median

2. The number of buses observed in ten major roads in Metro Manila are 657, 705,
646, 705, 800, 756, 724, 758, 769, and 750. Find the median.

Solution:

Step 1. Arrange the data in order

646, 657,705, 705, 724, 750, 756, 756, 769, 800

Step 2. Find the middle value

646, 657,705, 705, 724, 750, 756, 756, 769, 800

Median

Since there are two middle values, the median falls halfway between these
values

724+750
𝑀𝑑 = 2
= 737

Median for Grouped Data

 Median of a grouped data is data that is arranged in ascending order and is
written in a continuous manner. Introducing another method to find median in large
distribution
Cumulative Frequency Table - table that gives, for each distribution, number of
observations which are less than or equal to that value.

Middle Class - class interval whose cumulative frequency is greater than

𝑁
(nearest to) 2

𝑁
2
− 𝐹𝑚
𝑚 = 𝐿𝑚 + 𝑓𝑚
𝐶

m = median for grouped data

𝐿𝑚 = lower boundary of the median class
𝑁 = total number of values
𝐹𝑚 = total frequency below the median class
𝑓𝑚 = frequency of the median class
𝐶 = size of the class interval

Example 1:

Classes f Cumulative Frequency

10 - 19 2 2

20 - 29 3 5

30 - 39 5 10

40 - 49 8 18

50 - 59 15 33

60 - 69 7 40

70 - 79 6 46

80 - 89 4 50

N = 50
Middle class: 50 - 59 ( 33 is greater than 25)
𝑁 50
2
= 2
= 25
𝑁
2
− 𝐹𝑚
𝑚 = 𝐿𝑚 + 𝑓𝑚
𝐶
50
2
− 18
𝑚 = 49. 5 + 15
(10)
𝑚 = 49. 5 + 4. 67
𝑚 = 54. 17

Example 2: The table below shows the number of points each basketball player scored
per game.

Grades frequency Cumulative Frequency

1 - 10 8 8

11 - 20 25 33

21 - 30 14 47

31 - 40 9 56

41 - 50 4 60

N = 60
*Middle class: 11-20 ( 33 is greater than 30)
𝑁 60
2
= 2
= 30
𝑁
2
− 𝐹𝑚
𝑚 = 𝐿𝑚 + 𝑓𝑚
𝐶
60
2
−8
𝑚 = 11 + 25
(10)
𝑚 = 11 + 9. 68
𝑚 = 20. 68

III. MODE
 The mode is the category that occurs most frequently, or the most frequently
occurring value of x, i.e. the value of x with the highest frequency.

To calculate for mode, place all numbers in a given set in order; this can be from
lowest to highest or highest to lowest, and then count how many times each number
appears in the set. The one that appears the most is the mode

For example, if a set of numbers contained the following digits, 1, 1, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7,

7, 7, 8, the mode would be 7, as it appears the most out of all the numbers in the set.

A set of numbers with two modes is bimodal, a set of numbers with three modes
is trimodal, and any set of numbers with more than one mode is multimodal.

Mode for Grouped Data

It is not possible to make an exact mathematical determination of the mode. The
value of the mode may be approximated by resort to the formula:

𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓1
𝑚𝑜 = 𝐿𝑚𝑜 + 2𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓1− 𝑓2

where:
mo = mode
𝐿𝑚𝑜 = lower boundary of the modal class
𝑓𝑚𝑜 = frequency of the modal class
𝑓1 = frequency of the class preceding the modal class
𝑓2 = frequency of the class after the modal class
C = size of the class interval

Example:

Classes f

10 - 19 2

20 - 29 3

30 - 39 5

40 - 49 8 𝑓1
 50 - 59 15 𝑓𝑚𝑜

60 - 69 7 𝑓2

70 - 79 6

80 - 89 4

N = 50

𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓1 15 −8
𝑚𝑜 = 𝐿𝑚𝑜 + 2𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓1− 𝑓2
𝑖 = 49. 5 + 2(15) − 8 − 7
(10) = 54. 17

IV. QUARTILES, DECILES, AND PERCENTILES

Quartiles are values that divide a dataset into four equal parts, each representing
25% of the data. The three quartiles, also known as first quartile (Q1), second quartile
(Q2), and third quartile (Q3), are commonly used to describe the distribution of a
dataset.

First quartile: Also known as Q1, or the lower quartile. This is the number halfway
between the lowest number and the middle number.

Second quartile: Also known as Q2, or the median. This is the middle number halfway
between the lowest number and the highest number.

Third quartile: Also known as Q3, or the upper quartile. This is the number halfway

between the middle number and the highest number.

Deciles
 Deciles are the values which divide an array into ten equal parts. These are
positional averages that give us important information about the distribution of the data.

The third decile D3 divides the given data set into two parts such that 30% of the
data values lie below it and the remaining 70% of the data lie above that value.
Similarly, the eighth decile D8 divides the data into two parts with 80% of the values
lying below it and 20% of the values lying above it.

Percentiles

Percentiles divide the distribution into one hundred parts. These are values on a
scale of one hundred that indicates the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below
it. Percentile points divide the distribution into one hundred parts each containing one
percent of the cases.

Formula in getting the Quartile for Ungrouped Data:

𝑖
Qi = 4
(n+1)th Term

Formula in getting the Decile for Ungrouped Data:

𝑖
Di = 10
(n+1)th Term

Formula in getting the Percentile for Ungrouped Data:

𝑖
Pi = 100
(n+1)th Term

where:
n = total number of values

Example:

Formula in getting the Quartile for Grouped Data:

 𝑁
4
𝑖− 𝐹𝑞𝑖
Qi = Lqi + 𝑓𝑞𝑖
C

Formula in getting the Decile for Grouped Data:

𝑁
10
𝑖− 𝐹𝑑𝑖
Di = Ldi + 𝑓𝑖
C

Formula in getting the Percentile for Grouped Data:

𝑁
100
𝑖− 𝐹𝑝𝑖
Pi = Lpi + 𝑓𝑝𝑖
C

where:
i = ith quartile/decile/percentile
L = lower boundary of the interval that contains the i th quartile/decile/percentile
N = total frequency
F = cumulative frequency of the preceding class
𝑓 = frequency of the interval that contains the ith quartile/decile/percentile
C = class width

Example 1:

Classes f Class Boundaries cf

53 - 63 6 52.5 - 63.5 6

64 - 74 12 63.5 - 74.5 18

75 - 85 25 74.5 - 85.5 43

86 - 96 18 85.5 - 96.5 61

97 - 107 14 96.5 - 107.5 75

108 - 118 5 107.5 - 118.5 80

Third Quartile (Q3):

𝑖𝑁 (3)(80)
4
= 4
= 60
 𝑁
4
𝑖 − 𝐹𝑞𝑖
Qi = Lqi + 𝑓𝑞𝑖
C
60 − 43
Q3 = 85.5 + 18
(11)
17
= 85.5 + 18
(11)
= 85.5 + 10.389
Q3 = 86.889

Fourth Decile (D4):

𝑖𝑁 (4)(80)
10
= 10
= 32

𝑁
10
𝑖 − 𝐹𝑑𝑖
Di = Ldi + 𝑓𝑑𝑖
C
32 − 18
D4 = 74.5 + 25
(11)
14
= 74.5 + 25
(11)
= 74.5 + 6.16
D4 = 80.66

Twenty-first Percentile (P21):

𝑖𝑁 (21)(80)
100
= 100
= 16.8

𝑁
10
𝑖 − 𝐹𝑝𝑖
Pi = Lpi + 𝑓𝑝𝑖
C
16.8 − 6
P21 = 63.5 + 12
(11)
10.8
= 63.5 + 12
(11)
= 63.5 + 9.9
P21 = 73.4

Example 2:

Classes f Cumulative Frequency

10-19 2 2
 20-29 3 5

30-39 5 10

40-49 8 18

50-59 15 33

60-69 7 40

70-79 6 46

80-89 4 50

N=50

First Quartile (Q1):

𝑖𝑁 (1)(50)
4
= 4
= 12.5

𝑁
4
𝑖 − 𝐹𝑞𝑖
Qi = Lqi + 𝑓𝑞𝑖
C
12.5 − 10
Q1 = 39.5 + 8
(10)
2.5
= 39.5 + 8
(10)
= 39.5 + 3.125
Q1 = 42.625

Seventh Decile (D7):

𝑖𝑁 (7)(50)
10
= 10
= 35

𝑁
10
𝑖 − 𝐹𝑑𝑖
Di = Ldi + 𝑓𝑑𝑖
C
35 − 33
D7 = 59.5 + 7
(10)
2
= 59.5 + 7
(10)
= 59.5 + 2.857
D7 = 62.357

Sixty-fifth Percentile (P65):

 𝑖𝑁 (65)(50)
100
= 100
= 32.5

𝑁
10
𝑖 − 𝐹𝑝𝑖
Pi = Lpi + 𝑓𝑝𝑖
C
32.5 − 18
P65 = 49.5 + 15
(10)
14.5
= 49.5 + 15
(10)
= 49.5 + 9.667
P65 = 59.167