Guided Notes: Finding Relative Frequencies

1. Students will be able to construct a two-way data table with relative frequencies
2. Students will be able to determine joint, marginal, and conditional relative
frequencies in the context of data

Two-way Frequency Table = frequency table that displays data belonging to two
different categories

Attending Not Attending Total

Kids 45 35 80
Adults 25 15 40
Total 70 50 120

Relative Frequency = an interval frequency divided by the total frequency

Relative Frequency = interval frequency / total frequency

Joint Frequency = data in the body of the frequency table (yellow)

Attending Not Attending Total

Kids 45 35 80
Adults 25 15 40
Total 70 50 120

Joint Relative Frequency = ratio of a value that is in the body of the table to the total
number of data values

Joint Relative Frequency = joint frequency / total frequency = yellow / green

Attending Not Attending Total

Kids 45/120 35/120
Adults 25/120 15/120
Total
Marginal Frequency = data in the marginal columns or rows of the frequency table
(blue)

Attending Not Attending Total

Kids 45 35 80
Adults 25 15 40
Total 70 50 120

Marginal Relative Frequency = ratio of a value that is in the marginal column or row of
the table to the total number of data values

Marginal Relative Frequency = marginal frequency / total frequency = blue / green

Attending Not Attending Total

Kids 80/120
Adults 40/120
Total 70/120 50/120

Conditional Frequency = compares a joint frequency count to a marginal total

Attending Not Attending Total

Kids 45 35 80
Adults 25 15 40
Total 70 50 120

Conditional Relative Frequency.= ratio of value that is in the body of the table to the
marginal total of the table

Conditional Relative Frequency = joint frequency / marginal frequency = yellow / blue

Of the people that said they were attending, how many are kids? 45/70

Of the adults that were surveyed, how many said they are not attending? 15/40

Of people that said they were not attending, how many are adults? 15/50

Of the kids that were surveyed, how many said they were attending? 45/80
Example 1: Fill in the table below that shows the different sports that boys and girls
participate in at a local high school.

Basketball Volleyball Soccer Total

Boys 45 35 50 130
Girls 40 55 60 155
Total 85 90 110 285

a) Complete the joint and marginal relative frequency table based on the above data:

Basketball Volleyball Soccer Total

Boys 45/285 35/285 50/285 130/285
Girls 40/285 55/285 60/285 155/285
Total 85/285 90/285 110/285

b) Find the following conditional relative frequencies:

Given the number of students that play soccer, how many are boys? 50/110

Of the girls that play a sport, how many play volleyball? 55/155

What is the probability that a student plays basketball, given they are a boy? 45/130

What is the probability a student is a boy, given he plays volleyball? 35/90

Example 2: Fill in the table below that shows the different foods that freshman and
sophomores prefer at a local high school.

Pizza Hamburgers Tacos Total

Freshman 10 8 12 30
Sophomores 12 13 10 25
Total 22 21 22 55

a) Complete the joint and marginal relative frequency table based on the above data:

Pizza Hamburgers Tacos Total

Freshman 10/55 8/55 12/55 30/55
Sophomores 12/55 13/55 10/55 25/55
Total 22/55 21/55 22/25

b) Find the following conditional relative frequencies:

Given the freshman that were surveyed, how many prefer pizza? 10/30

Of the students that prefer tacos, how many are sophomores? 10/22

What is the probability a student likes hamburgers, given they are a freshman? 8/30

What is the probability a student is a freshman, given they like tacos? 12/22