ANALYSIS OF OBJECTIVES OF AVERAGING, REQUISITES OF A

GOOD AVERAGE, ARITHMETIC MEAN

INTRODUCTION

AVERAGING AND ITS TYPES

The averages are the measures which condense a huge unwieldy set of
numerical data into single numerical values which represent the entire
distribution.

“A measure of Central tendency is a typical value around which other

figures congregate.” —Simpson and Kafka

Types of Averages

Mathematical averages are:

1. Arithmetic Mean
2. Geometric Mean
3. Harmonic Mean
4. Median
5. Mode

1
For the purpose of this paper, we are going to restrict our study to only
type of average, i.e. the Arithmetic Mean including the various methods
by which arithmetic mean can be calculated with the help of illustrations

OBJECTIVES OF AVERAGING

Objectives and Functions of Averages:

(i) Representative of the group:

(ii)  Brief description:

(iii) Helpful in comparison:

(iv) Helpful in formulation of policies:

(v) Base of other statistical Analysis:

REQUISITES OF GOOD AVERAGE

(i) Good Average should be based on all the observations:

(ii) Good Average should not be unduly affected by extreme value:

(iii) Good Average should be rigidly defined:

(iv) Good   Average should be easy to calculate and simple to understand: 

(v) Good Average should be capable of further algebraic treatment:

(vi)  Good Average should be found by graphic methods also:

(vii) Good Average should not be affected by variations of sampling:

2
(viii) Good Average should not be affected by skewness:

(ix) Good  Average should be popular:

(x) Good average should have a Clear and Stable Definition:

(xi) Good average should be Absolute Number:

(xii) Good average should be Possible to find central Tendency for open end
class intervals:

ARITHMETIC MEAN

The arithmetic mean of a series is the quotient obtained by dividing the sum of the
values by the number of items. In algebraic language, if X1, X2, X3 ....... Xn are the n
values of a variate X.
Then the Arithmetic Mean is defined by the following formula:
=
=
Example : The following are the monthly salaries (Rs.) of ten employees in an office.
Calculate the meansalary of the employees: 250, 275, 265, 280, 400, 490, 670, 890,
1100, 1250.
Solution : =
= = Rs. 587
Short-cut Method:

Symbolically, where A is assumed mean and dx are deviations = (X – A).

We can solve the previous example by short-cut method.

Computation of Arithmetic Mean

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Serial         Salary (Rupees)       Deviations from assumed mean

3
Number             X                           where dx = (X – A), A = 400

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.                    250                               –150

2.                    275                               –125
3.                    265                               –135

4.                    280                               –120

5.                    400                                 0
6.                    490                               +90
7.                    670                               +270
8.                    890                               +490
9.                  1100                               + 700
10.                1250                               + 850

----------------------------------------------------------------

N = 10                                                ∑dx = 1870

--------------------------------------------------------------

Example : The following table gives the distribution of 100 accidents during seven
days of the week in a given month. During a particular month there were 5 Fridays
and Saturdays and only four each of other days. Calculate the average number of
accidents per day.
Days :          Sun.   Mon.    Tue.    Wed.    Thur.    Fri.    Sat. Total
Number of
accidents :    20     22        10        9         11        8        20 = 100

Solution : Calculation of Number of Accidents per Day

------------------------------------------------------------

Day        No. of              No. of Days         Total Accidents

Accidents             in Month

4
X                           f                              fX

-------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday      20                          4                              80

Monday     22                          4                              88
Tuesday    10                           4                             40
Wednesday 9                           4                             36
Thursday   11                           4                             44
Friday        8                           5                             40
Saturday   20                           5                            100

--------------------------------------------------------------

100                       N = 30                        ∑fX = 428

--------------------------------------------------------------

= = 14.27 = 14 accidents per day

Calculation of arithmetic mean for Continuous Series: 

when m = mid points of various classes and N = total frequency In the short-cut
method, the following formula is applied:
= where dx = (m – A) and N = ∑f

Example : Following is the frequency distribution of marks obtained by 50 students

in a test of Statistics:

----------------------------------------------------------------

Marks                                Number of Students

----------------------------------------------------------------

0 – 10                                 4
10 – 20                               6

5
20 – 30                               20
30 – 40                               10
40 – 50                               7
50 – 60                               3

----------------------------------------------------------------

Calculate arithmetic mean by:

(i) direct method.
(ii) short-cut method, and
(iii) coding method

Solution : Calculation of Arithmetic Mean

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-

X             f         m         fm         dx = (m – A)                                  fdx       fd’x

(where A = 25)     where i = 10

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

0 – 10      4         5         20                – 20                        – 2           – 80        – 8

10 – 20    6        15        90                – 10                        – 1           – 60        – 6
20 – 30    20       25       500                 0                           0              0            0
30 – 40    10       35       350              +10                         +1             100      + 10
40 – 50     7        45       315              +20                         +2             140      + 14
50 – 60     3        55       165              +30                         +3             90        + 9

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--

N = 50           ∑fm = 1440                                        ∑fdx = 190   ∑fd’x = 19

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---

6
Mathematical Properties of the Arithmetic Mean
(i) The sum of the deviation of a given set of individual observations from the
arithmetic mean is always zero.

(ii) The sum of squares of deviations of a set of observations is the minimum

when deviations are taken from the arithmetic average.

(iii) If each value of a variable X is increased or decreased or multiplied by a

constant k, the arithmetic mean also increases or decreases or multiplies by
the same constant.
(iv) If we are given the arithmetic mean and number of items of two or
more groups, we can compute the combined average of these groups by
apply the formula

If we replace each item in the series by the mean, the sum of these substitutions will
be equal to the sum of the individual items. This property is used to find out the
aggregate values and corrected averages. We can understand the property with the
help of an example.

Weighted Mean

While determining the average price of toy sold these weights are of great importance
and are taken into account to compute weighted mean.
The table given below demonstrates the procedure of computing the weighted Mean.
Weighted Arithmetic mean of Toys by the Raja Shop.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toy             Price per toy (Rs.)         Number Sold         Price x Weight

X                                W                         WX

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7
Car                       3                                 50                       150
Locomotive          5                                 25                       125
Aeroplane             7                                15                        105
Double Decker      9                                 10                        90

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------