CHAPTER – 5 Meaning of Central tendency
it refers to a representative value of a statistical series. It summarises the whole data in a single value in
such a way that this value represents the whole data. In brief the average value of data is called central
tendency.
Objective and function of central tendency
1. Brief description – The main purpose of central tendency is to represent a simple and a systematic
description of raw data. For example, it is not possible to remember income of every worker in a
factory, but average income of workers can be easily remembered.
2. Comparison – Central tendency helps in making useful comparison between different sets of data.
For example, per capita income of India can be easily compared with per capita income of USA and it
can be found out, that India is a poor country.
3. Formulation of policies – Central tendency helps in making useful financial policies, for example
per capita income of India is very less as compared to per capita income of USA, accordingly it
becomes clear to the government, to formulate those financial policies, which help in increasing per
capita income.
4. Helps in analysis – Central tendency is very useful in making analysis, for example if one knows the
average marks obtained by students in different subjects, it can be easily analysed the subjects in
which students are week.
Kinds of central tendency
1. Mathematical average 2. Positional average
A. Simple mean A. Median
B. Weighted mean B. Mode
1. Harmonic mean C. Quartiles
2. Geometric mean D. Deciles
E. Percentiles
Mathematical average
Mathematical averages are those averages which are based on all the observations of the given statistical
series. In the computation of mathematical average, the entire set of data at our disposal is used and there
is not any loss of information resulting from not using the available data.
1. Simple mean – It is sum of all observations divided by number of observations
Example – if there are N observations like X1, X2, X3, _________________Xn, then mean is
Mean = ∑X/N
Use of mean
Simple mean is used if all the observations of the given series are to be given equal importance and
observations are of quantitative nature and not of qualitative nature like beauty, honesty, intelligence
etc.
Individual series
Q 1. Following is the marks of 8 students. Find out arithmetic mean
30 45 60 40 15 65 85 20
Ans. 45
Discrete series
Q2. From the following data, calculate arithmetic mean
Variable (X) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Frequency (f) 10 16 11 8 6 4 3 2
Ans. 4.30
CONTINUOUS SERIES
The following table shows the marks obtained by 90 students in a certain examination. Calculate the
average marks by: (i) Direct Method; (ii) Short-cut Method; (iii) Step Deviation Method.
Marks 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80
No. of Students 3 8 12 16 19 16 11 5
Ans 42.44
CALCULATION OF MISSING VALUE
Q1. Mean of a series of 5 items is 25, and values of four items are: 10,25, 35,40. Find out the value of
5th item.
Ans. 15
Q2. Find the missing item, if mean of the following series is 50:
Marks 30 35 40 ? 50 75
No. of Students 1 2 3 4 6 4
Ans. 45
Q2. Find out the missing frequency, if mean = 29.
X 5 15 25 35 45 55
f 5 7 ? 18 5 3
Ans. 12
Q3. In the following frequency distribution, the frequency of the class interval 50-60 is not known.
Find it out, if the arithmetic mean of the distribution is 52.
Class-interval 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80
No. of Students 5 3 4 7 ? 6 13
Ans. 2
Calculation of mean in case of special series
CASE 1: Cumulative Frequency Distribution CASE 1 : Cumulative Frequency Distribution
(Less Than Series): Convert it into Simple (More Than Series): Convert it into Simple Frequency
Frequency Distribution and then calculate Mean in Distribution and then calculate Mean in usual manner.
usual manner.
Marks
Marks Less Less Less Less Less More More More More More
than 10 than 20 than 30 than 40 than 50 than 10 than 20 than 30 than 40 than 50
12
No. of 9 16 24 28 35 No. of 30 22 18 5
Stud. Stud.
Ans. 23, 34
CASE 5: Unequal Class-Intervals There is no need to make class-intervals equal, i.e. calculate Mean
in usual manner.
X 0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30-50 50-60
f
9 3 6 5 5 8
Ans. 55
Combined mean
1. Find out combined mean from the following data:
Particulars
Series X1 Series X2
Mean 12 20
No. of Items 80 60
Ans. Combined Mean = 15.43
2. The mean wage of 100 workers is Rs. 284. The mean wage of 70 workers is Rs. 290. Find the mean
wage of remaining 30 workers.
Ans. 270
CORRECTED MEAN
Q1. The average weight of a group of 25 boys was calculated to be 52 kg. It was later discovered that one
weight was misread as 45 kg instead of 54 kg. Calculate the correct average weight. Ans. 52.36
Q2. The mean salary paid to 1,000 employees of a factory was found to be Rs. 180.4. Later on it was
discovered that the wages of two employees were wrongly taken as 297 and 165 instead of 197 and 185.
Find the correct mean salary.
Ans. 180.32
Positional average
Positional averages determine the position or rank of a value in the given statistical series. Positional
averages are of following types (a) median (b) mode (c) quartiles (d) deciles (e) percentiles
Median
Median is that positional value which divides the given observation into two equal parts. One part
contains all values greater than or equal to the median and other part contains all values smaller than or
equal to median value.
Median is called positional value as number of observations greater than median is equal to number of
observations smaller than Median, Median is thus position of average. Median is abbreviated by the
symbol Md.
Suitability
1. Median is suitable average, when given statistical series is of qualitative nature like when we have to
find average for honesty, hardwork etc
2. Median is a suitable average when given series has extreme values
3. Median is suitable average when objective is to calculate the position or rank of the average
Merits
1. It is simple to understand and easy to calculate
2. It can be calculated when data is incomplete and even in case of open-end series
3. Median can be found out graphically with the help of OGIVE.
4. Median is not affected by extreme values as it is a positional value and in fact it can be calculated
even without knowing extreme value.
5. The sum of absolute deviations of a given set of observations is minimum, when taken from median.
Demerits
1. It is not a representative value as median is not based on all observations
2. It is not a precise value when lies between two values.
3. It is not capable of further algebraic treatment like it can’t be used to find combined median
4. It is not a true representative value in case of unequal class intervals as it can be calculated without
making class intervals equal.
5. Arrangement of data is required before actual calculation of median.
PRACTICAL UNDERSTANDING OF MEDIAN
1. Find out the median from the following data:
120 200 170 800 620 350 375 640 750
Ans. 375
2. Calculate median from the following data: 245, 230, 265, 236, 220, 250
Ans. 240.5
Discrete series
1. Calculate the median from the following data:
Size (X) Frequency (f)
3 2
4 1
5 3
6 7
7 4
Ans. Median = 6
Locate median of the following frequency distribution:
X 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
f 7 14 18 36 51 54 52 20
Ans. 30
Continuous series
Q1. Calculate the median of the following distribution which gives the marks obtained by students
in a certain examination.
Marks 40-50 30-40 20-30 10-20 0-10
No. of Students 2 7 12 9 1
Ans. Median = 24.58 marks
Q2. The following table gives the distribution of monthly salary of 900 employees However, the
frequencies of the classes 40-50 and 60-70 are missing. If the median of the distribution is Rs. 59.25,
find the missing frequencies.
Salaries(Rs. in ‘000) 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80
No. of Employees 120 ? 200 ? 185
Special series
CASE 1a: Cumulative Frequency Distribution
(Less Than Series):Convert it into Simple Frequency Distribution and then calculate Median in usual
manner.
Marks Less than 10 Less than 20 Less than 30 Less than 40 Less than 50
Students 3 7 9 16 25
CASE 1 b: Cumulative Frequency Distribution
(More Than Series):Convert it into Simple Frequency Distribution and then calculate Median in usual
manner.
Marks More than 10 More than 20 More than 30 More than 40 More than 50
Students 30 24 16 11 4
Ans. 35, 32
MODE
The value of a variable which occurs maximum number of times in a given statistical series, is called
mode. Mode is represented by symbol (Z) and it is the value around which data is heavily or mostly
concentrated.
Suitability
Mode is preferable to Mean(X) and Median (Md), when the objective is to know the most typical value
like the most common shoe size, the most famous candidate in an election etc.
Types of a distribution
A given distribution can be No modal, Uni-modal, bi-modal and multi –modal
1. No modal value – when all the observations in the given series has the same frequency
2. Uni - Modal value – when only one value in the given observation has maximum frequency
3. Bi-modal value - when two values in the given observation have maximum frequency
4. Multi –Modal - when more than two values in the given observation has maximum frequency
Merits of mode
1. Mode is very simple to understand and can be calculated without much mathematical calculation
2. Mode is not affected by extreme value, since it depends upon maximum frequency
3. Mode can be calculated graphically with the help of Histogram
4. Mode is the most common value, hence it can’t be an isolated value like median and it can’t be a
value which is not present in the given series like mean
Demerits
1. Mode is not uniquely defined, when mode lies in bi-modal or multi-modal class, calculation of
mode becomes difficult
2. Mode can’t be calculated in open end series
3. Mode is not a representative value as it is not based on all observations
4. As compared to mean, mode is greatly affected by fluctuation in sampling.
Q1. From the heights of 15 students, calculate the value of mode.
Height (in inches) 52 50 66 70 66 72 71 66 60 67 69 67 48 60 65
Ans.
Q2. Find out mode of the following series.
Class-Interval 0-5 5-10 10-15 15-20 20-25
Frequency 2 4 15 6 7
Ans. Mode = 12.75
Q3.Find out mode of the following series by observation method /Inspection method
Size 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Frequency 5 6 8 7 9 8 9 6
Ans. 12
Q2. Find out mode of the following series by grouping method
Size 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Frequency 5 6 8 7 9 8 9 6
Ans. 12
