Organizing Data in a Frequency Distribution Table
Example 1
An airline asked their passenger on a flight to rate the quality of their
service. The table below shows the ratings of 24 passengers. Make a
frequency distribution table of the data collected. How many passengers gave
a rating of 3 and below?
Service Ratings
3 5 4 2 4 3
4 2 1 4 3 5
5 1 2 5 3 1
4 3 5 2 5 2
5: Excellent 4: Very Good 3: Good 2: Fair 1: Poor
Solution:
1. Write the service ratings in order.
2. Make a tally.
3. Count the tallies then write the frequencies.
4. Total all the frequencies.
Service Rating Tally Frequency
Excellent 6
Very Good 5
Good 5
Fair 5
Poor 3
TOTAL : 24
The rates of 3 and below consist of good (3), fair (2), and poor (1). Their
frequencies are 5, 5, and 3, respectively. Adding these three frequencies will
result to 13, the number of passengers who gave a rating of 3 and below.
The word data refers to information that is collected and recorded. It can
be in the form of numbers, words, measurement and much more.
Grouped data is the type of data which is classified into groups after collection.
Ungrouped data which is also known as raw data that has not been placed in
any group or category after collection.
Steps in constructing a frequency table for a given ungrouped data to be
transformed as a grouped data.
1. Determine the range.
Range is the difference between the highest value H and the lowest value L
in the set of data. R = H – L
2. Determine the desired number of the class interval or categories. The ideal
number of class interval in somewhere between 5 and 15.
3. Determine the class width or approximate size of the class interval by
dividing the range by the desired number of class intervals.
Class width in symbol w
4. Write the class intervals starting with the lowest lower value as determined
in the data. Then add the class width to the starting point to get the next
interval. Do this until the highest value is contained in the last interval.
5. Tally the corresponding number of scores in each interval. Then
summarize the results or sum up the tallies under the frequency column.
Example 2:
The following are the test scores of students. Construct a suitable
frequency table. Use 6 as the desired number of class interval.
14 15 30 19 10 18
26 30 10 15 15 28
10 30 34 40 20 40
20 30 10 22 36 36
22 18 14 26 17 37
21 19 11 16 29
Solution:
1. Determine the range.
R = H – L
= 40 – 10
= 30
2. Class Interval = 6
3. Determine the Class Width
W
4. Write the class intervals starting with the lowest lower value as determined
in the data.
- Starting with 10 and with w = 5, the class intervals are: 10 – 15, 16 –
21, 22 – 27, 28 – 33, 34 – 39, 40 – 45.
5. Tally the corresponding number of scores in each interval. Then
summarize the results or sum up the tallies under the frequency column.
Scores Tally Frequency
10 – 15 10
16 – 21 9
22 – 27 4
28 – 33 6
34 – 39 4
40 – 45 2
T TAL 35
O
Example 3:
The following are the weights (in lbs) of grade 7 students. Construct a frequency
table using 7 as the desired number of class interval. How many students weigh
more than 100 lbs? Solution:
97 91 104 108 81 93 100 107
93
118 97 83 103 108 101 87 88 114
86 92 91 97 99 102 111 101 95
80 110 96 96 98 104 101 106 94
1. Determine the range.
R = H – L
= 118 – 80
= 38
2. Desired Number of Class Interval = 7
3. Determine the Class Width
W
4. Write the class intervals starting with the lowest lower value as determined
in the data.
- Starting with 80 and with w = 6, the class intervals are: 80 – 86,
87 – 93, 94 – 100, 101 – 107, 108 – 114, 115 – 121.
5. Tally the corresponding number of scores in each interval. Then
summarize the results or sum up the tallies under the frequency column.
The table shows the frequency table
Weight (lbs) Tally Frequency
80 – 86 4
87 – 93 7
94 – 100 10
101 – 107 9
108 – 114 5
115 – 121 1
TAL
TO 36
To answer the question, the students who weigh more than 100 lbs are
those in the class intervals 101 - 107, 108 – 114, and 115 – 121. Therefore, there
are 9 + 5 + 1 = 15 students who weigh more than 100 lbs.
