Shape of

Distribution

Skewne
ss Skewness is the measurement of the

lack of symmetry of the distribution.

The shape can be Symmetric or skewed

The Same Positions of the Mean, Median, and

Mode: Symmetric Distribution

Symmetrical Distribution (Sk = 0)

Mean
Median
Mode

Left-Skewed

Right-Skewed

Mean < Median < Mode

Mode < Median < Mean

(Longer tail extends to left)

(Longer tail extends to right)

The coefficient of skewness

can range from -3.00 up to
3.00 when using the

Skewness is measured with the help of

COEFFICIENT OF SKEWNESS.
If the value of coefficient of skewness is zero,
the data is symmetric.
If the value of coefficient of skewness is less
than zero, the data is negatively skewed.
If the value of coefficient of skewness is greater
than zero, the data is positively skewed.

1. Karl Pearson

X Median

3
sk
s

sk

X Mode
s

2. Bowley
Q3 Q1 2Q2
skewness
Q3 Q1

3.

3
(X

X)

ns 3

fi ( X i X ) 3
ns 3

Curtosis
Kurtosis is a measure of whether the data are
peaked or flat
relative to a normal distribution.

Kurtosis measures how peaked the histogram is

n

kurtosis

( xi x ) 4

ns

The kurtosis of a normal distribution is 0

Platykurtic When the kurtosis < 3,

the frequencies throughout the curve are
closer to be equal (i.e., the curve is more
flat and wide)
Leptokurtic When the kurtosis > 3,
there are high frequencies in only a small
part of the curve (i.e, the curve is more

Exercise
Consider the following data representing the
distribution of salaries of 3 companies A, B and C
each having 76 employees:
Class
Mark

Salary

Number of employees

(in RM)

Company
A

Company
B

Company
C

249,5

200-299

300-399

400-499

16

15

13

500-599

22

23

23

600-699

16

18

20

700-700

800-899

900-999

From the data we have the following results

about mean and deviation:
Company A

Company B

Company C

Mean Salary

S.D.

Which company has the most skewness and peaked

about the employees salary?
Remember,
Skewness means lack of symmetry.
10

11

C
A
B

12