Sec 2.

4 – Measures of Central Tendency

Mode Most common value

A value
“Centre”
around Mean Average value
can mean
which
many
data is
things
centred
Median “Middle data point”.
50% of the data points
are smaller or equal to
it.
 16, 14, 15, 17, 17, 17,
Example 16, 18, 42, 17, 14, 13

Notation: mean = 𝑥ҧ
Pronounced “X-bar”

σ 𝑥𝑖
Mean 𝑥ҧ =
𝑛
16 + 14 + ⋯ + 14 + 13
= = 18
12
 16, 14, 15, 17, 17, 17,
Mode 16, 18, 42, 17, 14, 13

The most common value is 17.

Median Step 1: Put the data in ascending order

13, 14, 14, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17, 17, 17, 18, 42

𝑛 + 1 13
Step 2: Find the position of the median, Me. = = 6.5
2 2
Step 3: Count the number of points till you get to the position

13, 14, 14, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17, 17, 17, 18, 42

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The 6.5th position is here

When n is even the
median will be
between 2 of the
16+17 data points.
Median: = 16.5
2
 What happens if the
number 13 is removed?

𝑛+1 11+1
Position: = =6
2 2

14, 14, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17, 17, 17, 18, 42

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 When n is odd the

median will be equal
to one of the data
points.

6th position. So Me = 17
 Mean Vs Median

Good when… Good when…

• Data is symmetric • Data is not symmetric

• No outliers • Has outliers

Values that are “too big” or

“too small” when compared
to the rest of the values
Example continued Mean = 18
13, 14, 14, 15, 16, 16, Mode = 17
17, 17, 17, 17, 18, 42
Median = 16.5

The values are all very similar.

• But notice the outlier: 42.
• There is only one value greater than the
mean of 18. It doesn’t seem very
central.
• The outlier is pulling the mean up.
• When there are outliers the
median is more suitable.
Mode Used when the most common value/response
is wanted/suitable

If no value The data can

occurs more have more
than once, it If 2 values occur
most frequently, than 2 modes.
has no mode
the data is
“bimodal”. Example:
Example: 21 , 21 , 35 , 17 ,
21 , 34 , 10 , 16 Example: 17 , 16 , 35 , 19
21 , 34 , 34 , 16 , 21 , 13, 37
Example: Service satisfaction

You ask 9 people to rate the 1 = very good

service at a local restaurant. 2 = good
3 = average
A Likert scale is used to 4 = poor
“measure” their responses. 5 = very poor
The responses you receive are:

Good, good, average,

Bad, good, very good,
Bad, average, very bad

How many of each?

Very good 1
The most
Good 3
common
Average 2 Mode = Good
response was
Bad 2 “good”
Very bad 1
 Codes:
Responses:
What about the mean? 1 = very good
Good, good, average,
2 = good
Bad, good, very good,
3 = average
Bad, average, very bad
σ𝑥 4 = poor
𝑥ҧ = 5 = very poor
𝑛

2 + 2 + 3 + ⋯+ 3 + 5
=
9
What response is
= 2.4 between “bad” and
“average”?
For qualitative data, the mode is the
best measure of central tendency.
?
 Weighted Mean

Used when not all

the data points are
𝒙𝒊 is the data point equally important.

σ 𝑥𝑖 𝑤𝑖
𝑥𝑤 = 𝒘𝒊 is the
σ 𝑤𝑖
weight for 𝒙𝒊
Example Calculation of you final stat130 mark

DP = 53%
Your marks
Exam = 49%

DP counts 35% Exam counts

of the final mark 65% of final mark

53 35 + (49)(65)
𝑥ҧ = = 50.4
35 + 65
Mean for grouped data Estimate the unknown 𝑥𝑖
with the midpoints

𝒙𝒎𝒊𝒅(𝒊)
𝒌 = number of classes
𝒎𝒊
Both notations will be
used in this module.
𝒌

෍ 𝒎𝒊 𝒇𝒊
ഥ=
𝒙 𝒊=𝟏
Frequencies
𝒏
 Example
𝑘
This means that there are 3 data recordings σ𝑖=1 𝑚𝑖 𝑓𝑖
with values from 15 to 20. Since we don’t 𝑥ҧ =
know what they are, we can estimate them 𝑛
using the class midpoint of 17.5.

17.5 3 +⋯+(41.5)(10)
=
53

= 31.877
 Mean, Median and Mode : Raw Data

Mean = 𝐴𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐴𝐺𝐸 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑦

Step 2:
Step 1: Type in
Enter the Excel
Median = 𝑀𝐸𝐷𝐼𝐴𝑁 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑦
data command

Mode = 𝑀𝑂𝐷𝐸 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑦

Mean, Median and Mode : Raw Data
 Mean : Grouped Data

Numerator:
= 𝑆𝑈𝑀𝑃𝑅𝑂𝐷𝑈𝐶𝑇 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑦 1 ; 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑦 2

σ𝑘𝑖=1 𝑚𝑖 𝑓𝑖 Frequencies Midpoints

𝑥ҧ =
𝑛

Denominator: 𝑆𝑈𝑀 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑦 1

 STEP 1:
Enter data

STEP 2:
Calculate the
midpoint values

STEP 3:
Type in the Excel
Function

STEP 4:
Press Enter