MEAN DEVIATION OR AVERAGE DEVIATION

Introduction
The formula for calculating mean deviation is
∑ 𝒇|𝑫|
𝑴. 𝑫 =
𝑵
Where M.D = Mean Deviation
f is frequency of corresponding interval,
N is total no of frequency ∑ 𝒇
|𝐷 | read as Mod D = (X – A) is the modulus value or absolute value i.e., deviations
from median or mode ignoring ± signs.

Coefficient of Mean Deviation

̅,
If deviations are taken from arithmetic mean, 𝑿
𝑀.𝐷
Coefficient of M.D = ̅ is mean,
; where 𝑿
𝑋̅

If deviations are taken from median, (M)

𝑀.𝐷
Coefficient of M.D = where, M is Median
𝑀

If deviations are taken from mode (Z),

𝑀.𝐷
Coefficient of M.D = where Z is Mode.
𝑍

When Mean or Median or Mode is in fractions, in that case, direct formula is

applicable.

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Assistant Prof. of Commerce
A. Individual Series
∑ 𝑋1− ∑ 𝑋2− [𝑁1− 𝑁2 ] [ 𝑋̅ 𝑜𝑟 𝑍,𝑀 ]
𝑀. 𝐷 =
𝑁

∑ 𝑋1 is the sum of terms greater than 𝑋̅ , Z or M

∑ 𝑋2 is the sum of terms less than 𝑋̅ , Z or M
𝑁1 is the sum of total No. of terms greater than 𝑋̅ , Z or M
𝑁2 is the sum of total No. of terms less than 𝑋̅ , Z or M
N = 𝑁1 + 𝑁2 = total No. of terms = ∑ 𝒇

1. Compute M.D and Coefficient of M.D from mean and median for the following
data.
3 7 12 14 15 18 22

Solution:
∑𝑋
1) 𝑋̅ = ; ∑ 𝑋 = 3 + 7 + 12 + 14 + 15 + 18 + 22 = 91
𝑁

91
𝑋̅ = = 13
7
X 𝑑𝑥 = |𝑋 − 𝑋̅ | (± signs ignored)
3 10
7 6
12 1
14 1
15 2
18 5
22 9
∑ 𝑑𝑥 = 34

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Assistant Prof. of Commerce
N=7
Now, ∑ 𝑑𝑥 = 34
∑ 𝑑𝑦 37
And M.D = = 4.86
𝑁 7

M.D for Mean = 4.86

And Coefficient of Mean Deviation from Mean
𝑀. 𝐷 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛 4.86
= = = 0.374
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛 13
2)
N=7, Median is 4 th term = 14
X 𝑑𝑦 = |𝑋 − 𝑀 | (± signs ignored)
3 11
7 7
12 2
14 0
15 1
18 4
22 8
∑ 𝑑𝑦 = 33

Now ∑ 𝑑𝑦 = 33, 𝑁 = 7
∑ 𝑑𝑥 33
And 𝑀. 𝐷 = = = 4.71
𝑁 14

And Coefficient of Mean Deviation from Mean

𝑀. 𝐷 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 4.71
= = = 0.336
𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 14
By Direct Method
∑ 𝑋1− ∑ 𝑋2− [𝑁1− 𝑁2 ] [ 𝑋̅ 𝑜𝑟 𝑍,𝑀 ]
𝑀. 𝐷 = 𝑁
As it is a Individual series hence frequency is one in each case

Uday N
Assistant Prof. of Commerce
From Mean:
𝑋̅ = 13
∑ 𝑋1 = 14 + 15 + 18 + 22 = 69 ;

∑ 𝑋2 = 12 + 7 + 3 = 22

𝑁1=4(𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑋̅

𝑁2 =3(𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑋̅
𝟔𝟗−𝟐𝟐−(𝟒−𝟑)(𝟏𝟑) 𝟑𝟒
From (1); 𝑴. 𝑫 = = = 𝟒. 𝟖𝟔
𝟕 𝟕

From Median

𝑀 = 14; ∑ 𝑋1 = 15 + 18 + 22 = 55 𝑁1 = 3

∑ 𝑋2 = 12 + 7 + 33 = 22; 𝑁2 = 3 (𝑁𝑜. 𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑀)

𝟓𝟓−𝟐𝟐−(𝟑−𝟑) (𝟏𝟒) 𝟑𝟑
Again from (1) ; 𝑴. 𝑫 = = = 𝟒. 𝟕𝟏
𝟕 𝟕

Short Answer type questions.

1. Find M.D and its coefficient from mean and median
6 26 32 30 10 25
Use direct method for above data to calculate M.D ad its coefficient.
2. Calculate M.D from mean and median for the following data.
3 2 4 7 3 8
Also calculate coefficient

Uday N
Assistant Prof. of Commerce
 B. For discreate Series
∑ 𝒇𝒅𝒙
𝑴. 𝑫 =
𝑵
∑𝑓
Where N=

And dy is the deviation of variable from 𝑋̅ , 𝑀 𝑜𝑟 𝑍 ignoring signs (taking

+ive signs only)
Steps to calculate
1. Take 𝑋̅ , 𝑀 𝑜𝑟 𝑍 series as desired.
2. Take deviations dy ignoring signs.
3. Multiply dx by respective f: get ∑ 𝒇𝒅𝒙
4. use the formula
∑ 𝒇𝒅𝒙
𝑴. 𝑫 =
𝑵
𝑴. 𝑫
𝑪𝒐𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑴. 𝑫 = ̅
𝑿 𝒐𝒓 𝑴 𝒐𝒓 𝒁
When mean or median or mode is in fractions, in that case, Direct formula is
applied Mean Deviation from Mean, Median or Mode
̅ 𝒐𝒓 𝒁 𝒐𝒓 𝑴)
∑ 𝑿 𝒇𝟏 − ∑ 𝑿 𝒇𝟐 − [ ∑ 𝒇𝟏 − ∑ 𝒇𝟐 ] ( 𝑿
𝑵

1. Compare the dispersion of the following series by using the coefficient of mean
deviation.
Age (years) 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Total

No. of Boys 4 5 7 12 30 13 5 0 4 70
No. of girls 2 0 4 8 15 10 6 3 2 50

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Assistant Prof. of Commerce
Solution
Age X fb fg fbX fgX
16 4 2 64 32
17 5 0 85 0
18 7 4 126 72
19 12 8 228 152
20 20 15 400 300
21 13 10 273 210
22 5 6 110 132
23 0 3 0 69
24 4 2 96 48

𝟏𝟑𝟖𝟐
̅𝒃 =
𝑿 = 𝟏𝟗. 𝟕𝟒
𝟕𝟎
𝟏𝟎𝟏𝟓
̅𝒈 =
𝑿 = 𝟐𝟎. 𝟑
𝟓𝟎
𝟖𝟕𝟗−𝟓𝟎𝟑 −(𝟒𝟐−𝟐𝟖) 𝟏𝟗.𝟕𝟒
Mean Deviation (Boys) =
𝟕𝟎
𝟑𝟕𝟔−𝟐𝟕𝟔.𝟔𝟑 𝟗𝟗.𝟕𝟒
= = = 𝟏. 𝟒𝟐
𝟕𝟎 𝟕𝟎
𝟒𝟓𝟗−𝟓𝟓𝟔− (𝟐𝟏−𝟐𝟗) 𝟐𝟎.𝟑
Mean Deviations (girls) =
𝟓𝟎
−𝟗𝟕+𝟏𝟔𝟐.𝟒
= = 𝟏. 𝟑𝟎𝟖
𝟓𝟎
𝟏.𝟒𝟐
Coefficient of MD (boys) = = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟕𝟏𝟗
𝟏𝟗.𝟕𝟒
𝟏.𝟑𝟎𝟖
Coefficient of MD (girls) = = 𝟎. 𝟔𝟒𝟒
𝟐𝟎.𝟑

Series of girls is more consistent.

1. Calculate the Mean Deviation and Coefficient of Mean Deviation with
Median fr om the following.
Marks 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Students 3 8 16 26 37 50 56 60

Uday N
Assistant Prof. of Commerce
2. Calculate coefficient of M.D from Mean.
X 10 11 12 13
F 3 12 18 12

3. Compute M.D and its Coefficient from Mean and Median and Mode from
the following.
X 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
F 2 1 3 6 4 3 1

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Assistant Prof. of Commerce
C. Continuous Series:
∑ 𝒇𝒅𝒚
For Continuous Series 𝑴. 𝑫 =
𝑵

Where 𝒅𝒚 is the variation between middle points of class intervals and values of
̅ , 𝑴 𝒐𝒓 𝒁.
𝑿
∑𝒇 = 𝑵
𝑴.𝑫
Coefficient of 𝑴. 𝑫 = ̅ 𝒐𝒓 𝑴𝒐𝒓 𝒁
𝑿
Calculate mean deviation from median and coefficient of mean deviation from
the following data:
Age Group 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70
No. of Workers 8 12 20 16 4

Solution:
C.I f M.V.m Cf (m-M) dx fdx Fm
20-30 8 25 8 20 160 200
30-40 12 35 20 10 120 420
40-50 20 45 40 0 0 900
50-60 16 55 56 10 160 880
60-70 4 65 60 20 80 260
60 520 2660

𝑵 𝟔𝟎
𝑵𝟏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑴 = = = 𝟑𝟎
𝟐 𝟐
𝑳 = 𝟒𝟎;
𝒇 = 𝟐𝟎;
𝑪𝒇 = 𝟐𝟎;
𝑵𝟏 = 𝟑𝟎

𝑵𝟏 − 𝑪𝒇
𝑴=𝑳+ 𝑿𝒊
𝒇
𝟑𝟎 − 𝟐𝟎
𝟒𝟎 + 𝑿 𝟏𝟎
𝟐𝟎
𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝟒𝟎 + = 𝟒𝟎 + 𝟓 = 𝟒𝟓
𝟐𝟎
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Assistant Prof. of Commerce
 ∑ 𝒇𝒅𝒙 𝟓𝟐𝟎
𝑴. 𝑫 = = = 𝟖. 𝟔𝟕
𝑵 𝟔𝟎

By Direct Method

∑ 𝒇𝑿𝟏 = 𝟖𝟖𝟎 + 𝟐𝟔𝟎 = 𝟏𝟏𝟒𝟎 ∑ 𝒇𝟏 = 𝟏𝟔 + 𝟒 = 𝟐𝟎

∑ 𝒇𝑿𝟐 = 𝟐𝟎𝟎 + 𝟒𝟐𝟎 = 𝟔𝟐𝟎 ∑ 𝒇𝟐 = 𝟏𝟐 + 𝟖 = 𝟐𝟎

∑ 𝑿 𝒇𝟏 − ∑ 𝑿 𝒇𝟐 − [ ∑ 𝒇𝟏 − ∑ 𝒇𝟐 ] 𝑿 𝑴
𝑴. 𝑫 =
𝑵
𝟏𝟏𝟒𝟎 − 𝟔𝟐𝟎 − (𝟐𝟎 − 𝟐𝟎)𝑿 𝟒𝟓
𝑴. 𝑫 =
𝟔𝟎
𝟓𝟐𝟎 − 𝟎
= = 𝟖. 𝟔𝟕
𝟔𝟎
𝑴.𝑫 𝟖.𝟔𝟕
Coefficient of 𝑴. 𝑫 = = = 𝟎. 𝟏𝟗𝟐
𝑴 𝟒𝟓

1. Compute M.D and Its coefficient from median for the following data.
C.I 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70
F 4 8 11 15 19 6 3

2. Calculate M.D from median from the following data. Also calculate its
coefficient.
Marks Less than
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
No. of Students
100 90 80 60 32 20 13 5

3. Calculate the mean deviation and coefficient of mean deviation with

median from the following:

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Assistant Prof. of Commerce
Marks Less than 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Students 3 8 16 26 37 50 56 60

Standard Deviation

Uday N
Assistant Prof. of Commerce