MEASURES OF CENTRAL

TENDENCY

Edward Lukwago

elukwago@gmail.com
 Introduction

One of the most important objectives of statistical

analysis is to get one single value that describes the
characteristic of the entire mass of data
Such a value is called the central value or an average
or the expected value of the variable
The word average is commonly used in day to day
conversation
Average is defined as attempt to find a single figure to
describe whole of figures
 Measures of Central Tendency

Measures of Central Tendency:

A single number to serve as a representative value around
which all the numbers in the set tend to cluster.
Sometimes it is referred to as a “middle” number of the
data.
Three types of measures of central tendency:
• Mean (average)
• Median (middle)
• Mode (most)
 Characteristics…
A good Measure of Central tendency should have the
following characteristics
It should be easy to calculate and understand
It should be unique and exist at all times
It should consider all observations
It should not be affected by extreme values
It should be suitable for further mathematical
manipulation
 Mean
The mean (arithmetic mean or average) of a set of data is
found by adding up all the items and then dividing by the sum
of the number of items.

The mean of a sample is denoted by x (read “x bar”).

The mean of a complete population is denoted by  (the
lower case Greek letter meu).
The mean of n data items x1, x2,…, xn, is given by the formula

or
 Mean for ungrouped data…
Example:
Ten students were polled as to the number of siblings in their
individual families.
The raw data is the following set: {3, 2, 2, 1, 3, 6, 3, 3, 4, 2}.
Find the mean number of siblings for the ten students.

siblings
 Mean for Grouped data

This is also known as the Weighted Mean

The weighted mean of n numbers x1, x2,…, xn, that are

weighted by the respective factors f1, f2,…, fn is given
by the formula:

w
 x f 
.
f
 Weighted Mean…
Example
Listed below are the grades of a students semester courses.
Calculate the Grade Point Average (GPA).

Course Grade Points (x) Credits (f) x*f

QM A 4 5 20
Research B 3 3 9
ICT A 4 2 8
Mgt. skills C 2 2 4
Σf = 12 Σx.f = 41
Example…
Class Mid-mark (x) Frequency (f)
10 – 19 14.5 6
20 – 29 24.5 7
30 – 39 34.5 24
40 – 49 44.5 7
50 – 59 54.5 2
60 – 69 64.6 4
Compute the arithmetic mean for the above
distribution of distance to and from Work in Kilometers
for UMI employees.
 Advantages of mean

• Advantages
– It summarizes the entire distribution
– It could be processed further into the standard
distribution
– It is unbiased - it always gives a fair representation
the population mean μ
 Disadvantages of mean
• It may be some distance from the majority of
observations
• Can be misleading
• It is approximated for grouped data
• Sometimes the figure obtained is not anywhere in
the distribution.
• Can give fractional values even for ungrouped data
 Properties of the Mean
1. The product of the arithmetic mean and
number of the values on which the mean
is based is equal to the sum of all given
value;
e.g. if the we have 4 variables 3,5,7,9; their total
sum (3+5+7+9) is 24 & their mean [(3+5+7+9)/4] is
6. Multiplying the number of variables (4) by the
mean (6) will give us the sum of the variables (24)
 Properties of the Mean
2.The algebra sum of the deviations of the
values from the arithmetic mean is equal to
x x̅ (x - x)̅
zero i.e. Σ (x-x̅ ) = 0.
3 6 -3
5 6 -1
7 6 +1
9 6 +3
Σ (x-x̅ ) = 0

3. The sum of the squares of deviations from

the mean is the least square mean
 Frequency Distribution Tables
Class Class Class Tally Frequency Cumulative fx x2 fx2
boundaries Mid-mark (x) (f) frequency (cf)

Class Class Class Tall Frequency Cumulative fx (x - x̅) (x - x)̅ 2 f(x - x̅)2
boundaries Mid-mark y (f) frequency (cf)
(x)
 Median
Another measure of central tendency, is the median.
The median conveys the notion of being the middle most value
with in the data distribution
This measure divides a group of numbers into two parts, with
.
half the numbers below the median and half above it.
The median is not as sensitive to extreme values as the mean.
To find the median of a group of items (ungrouped data):

1. Rank the items.

2. If the number of items is odd, the median is the middle item
in the list.
3. If the number of items is even, the median is the mean of the
two middle numbers.
 Median…

Example:
Ten students in a math class were polled as to the number of
siblings in their individual families and the results were:
3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 6, 3, 3, 4, 2.
Find the median number of siblings for the ten students.
Position of the median: 10/2 = 5
Between the 5th and 6th values

Data in order: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6

Median = (2+3)/2 = 2.5 siblings

 Median

Example:
Nine students in a math class were polled as to the number of
siblings in their individual families and the results were:
3, 2, 2, 1, 6, 3, 3, 4, 2.
Find the median number of siblings for the ten students.
Position of the median: 9/2 = 4.5
The 5th value

In order: 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6

Median = 3 siblings
 Median

Median in a Frequency Distribution

Example:
Find the median for the distribution.
Value (x) 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency (f) 4 3 2 6 8

Position of the median is the sum of the frequencies divided by 2.

 (f) 23
Position of the median = = = 11.5 = 12th term
2 2
Add the frequencies from either side until the sum is 12.
The 12th term is the median and its value is 4.
 Median for Grouped Data

Where; Lm = Lower class boundary of median class

N = Total number of observations
Cfbm = Cumulative frequency before the median
class
fm = Frequency of the median class
Cm = Class width of the median class
Class width is the Difference between two consecutive lower class limits
• For a class of 20-29, 20 is the lower class limit while 29 is the upper
class limit.
• 19.5 constitutes the lower class boundary and
• 29.5 constitutes the upper class boundary
 Advantages of Median:
• Simple to calculate;

• It is representative of entire distribution;

• It is unique and representative of an actual figure in the
distribution;
• Median can be calculated in all distributions.
• Median can be understood even by common people.
• Median can be ascertained even with the extreme items.
• It can be located graphically
• It is most useful dealing with qualitative data
 Disadvantages of Median:
• It cannot be subjected to further processing

• It is not based on all the values.

• It is not capable of further mathematical treatment.

• It is affected fluctuation of sampling.

• In case of even no. of values it may not the value

from the data.
 Mode

The mode of a data set is the value that occurs the most often.
If a distribution has two modes, then it is called bimodal.
In a large distribution, this term is commonly applied even
when the two modes do not have exactly the same frequency
Example – Ungrouped data:
Ten students in a math class were polled as to the number of
siblings in their individual families and the results were: 3, 2,
2, 1, 3, 6, 3, 3, 4, 2. Find the mode for the number of siblings.

3, 2, 2, 1, 3, 6, 3, 3, 4, 2
The mode for the number of siblings is 3.
 Mode…
Mode in a Frequency Distribution
Example:
Find the mode for the distribution.
Value (x) 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency (f) 4 3 2 6 8

The mode in a frequency distribution is the value that has the

largest frequency.
The mode for this frequency distribution is 5 as it occurs eight
times.
 Mode for Grouped data

Where; Lm = Lower class boundary of the modal class

D1 = the difference between the frequency of the modal class
and frequency of the class before the modal class.
D2 = the difference between the frequency of the modal class
and frequency of the class after the modal class.
C m = the class width of the modal class.
Use the data in the Frequency distribution table below to determine
the mean, Median and Mode
Class Class Class mid-mark Frequency Cumulative (f.x)
boundaries (x) (f) frequency (cf)
10 – 19 2
20 – 29 4
30 – 39 5
40 – 49 7
50 – 59 12
60 – 69 9
70 – 79 6
81 – 89 4
90 – 99 1
Σf = Σfx =
 Advantages of Mode :
• Mode is readily comprehensible and easily calculated (simple)

• It is the best representative of data

• It is not at all affected by extreme value.

• The value of mode can also be determined graphically.

• It is usually an actual value of an important part of the series.

• Useful for qualitative data say the most beautiful lady

 Disadvantages of Mode :
• It is not based on all observations (biased)

• It is not capable of further mathematical manipulation.

• Mode is affected to a great extent by sampling

fluctuations.

• Choice of grouping has great influence on the value of

mode.

• Can not be processed further

• Some distributions are bimodal

 Conclusion
• A measure of central tendency is a measure
that tells us where the middle of a bunch of
data lies.
• Mean is the most common measure of
central tendency. It is simply the sum of the
numbers divided by the number of numbers in
a set of data. This is also known as average.
• Median is the number present in the middle
when the numbers in a set of data are
arranged in ascending or descending order. If
the number of numbers in a data set is even,
then the median is the mean of the two
middle numbers.
• Mode is the value that occurs most frequently
in a set of data.
 Central Tendency from Stem-and-Leaf Displays
The mean can be calculated from the data presented in a Stem-
and-Leaf display.
The median and mode are easily identified when the “leaves”
are ranked (in numerical order) on their “stems.”

Find the median and mode.

Median: 21/2 = 10.5 11th term 1 5 6

The median is 37. 2 0 7 8 9 9
3 6 6 7 7
Mode is 42 4 0 2 2 2 3 6
5 1 6 8 8