MODULE 3

MODULE IN MEASURES OF LOCATION

[Discussions on some of the topics in this module are based from my notes when I take my Master of
Statistics in UP Diliman and my PhD in Social Science Research in Leyte Normal University. Others were
based from my personal knowledge and experience when dealing with the situation that requires my
personal decision and from my readings and researches from different references which I also
mentioned and acknowledged in this material. Some authors and books are mention in this material for
the students to take a look for further readings and references.]

I. MEASURES OF LOCATION
A. Measures of Central Location – Measures of central location are all used to express an average.
There are three measures of central location:
1. Mean
2. Median
3. Mode

MEAN

I would like to start my discussion on the mean by introducing some terms and notations that are often
used when dealing with the mean.

Let

µ be the population mean and ȳ be the sample mean. Usually the sample mean is denoted by x
with a bar above the letter x. However, I do not know how to place a bar above x so I will just use ȳ to
represent the sample mean. I have a symbol of ȳ in my laptop.

Note also that there are two types of data, the raw data and the grouped data. Grouped data is in a
form of a numerical frequency distribution. To compute for the mean for raw data, add the values of all
the data and divide the result by the total number of observations or the total number of data that were
added.

µ=

ȳ=

N is the size of the population and n is the size of sample. These are standard notations for size of
sample, size of the population, population mean and sample mean. If you are dealing with population
data, the mean is denoted by µ and the size of population is N. but if you are dealing with sample
observations the mean is denoted by ȳ and the size of the sample is denoted by n.
Example 1: Find the mean of the population data given below:

3, 5, 9, 5, 4, 7, 7, 6, 3, 8

Solution:

Since the given data is a population data, mean is denoted by µ while the total number of
observations is the size of the population and is denoted by N.

µ= = = = 5.7

Example 2: Find the mean of the data given below:

3, 5, 9, 5, 4, 7, 7, 6, 3, 8

Solution:

Note that the given set of data is just like the set of data in Example 1. The only difference between
Example 1 and Example 2 is that, it is stated in Example 1 that the data is a population data while in
Example 2 it is not given whether the given data is a population or sample data. You always have to
assume that you are dealing with sample data unless it is stated that the data is a population data or you
have conducted a census. This is because, in almost all cases, you will be dealing with sample
observations.

ȳ= = = = 5.7

The result in Example 1 is just the same in Example 2 but the interpretation is different. In Example 1, it
means that you have conducted a census and that is the mean of the population data which is a
parameter. While in Example 2, it means that your set of data is just a part or a portion of a bigger set of
data and the result is used to estimate the mean of the population. The sample mean ȳ is just a statistic
or just an estimate of the true value of a population.

To compute the mean of grouped data, you will use the formula:

µ= for population data

ȳ= for sample data

Example 1: Find the mean of the population data given below:

Class f
1–5 2
6 – 10 4
11 – 15 3
16 – 20 1
TOTAL 10

Solution:

Grouped data is in a form of a numerical frequency distribution. This is not a standard numerical
frequency distribution because the total number of classes is just equal to 4. Standard numerical
frequency distribution usually has 7 to 14 classes. However, I will use this frequency distribution to make
my explanation more simple for you to understand the basic assumption in dealing with grouped data.

The frequency distribution above shows that are 2 data whose values ranging from 1 to 5, 4 data whose
values ranging from 6 to 10, 3 data whose values ranging from 11 to 15 and 1 data whose value ranging
from 16 to 20. But you do not know the actual values of the data. This is one of the disadvantages of
presenting the data in tabular form, some information are lost. Note that when you compute the mean
you are supposed to add the values of the given set of data which you do not know at this point. You
have to make an assumption in order to compute the mean of the given set of data. You will use the
center value of the class or the class mark as the assumed value for the data that belong to that
particular class. The center or the class mark for class 1 to 5 is 3. Adding the lower and the upper limits
1+ 5 and dividing the result by 2 is equal to 3. This is the assumed value of the data that belong to class 1
to 5. The assumed values of the data that belong to class 6 to 10 is 8. The assumed values of the data
that belong to class 11 to 15 is 13 while the assumed value of the data that belong to class 16 to 20 is 18.

Class f Assumed Values

1–5 2 3, 3
6 – 10 4 8, 8, 8, 8
11 – 15 3 13, 13, 13
16 – 20 1 18
TOTAL 10

Adding the assumed values, 3 + 3 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 13 + 13 + 13 + 18 and dividing the result by 10, the
total number of observations is equal to 9.5 This is the mean of the given frequency distribution. Note
that we computed the mean based from the concept and not by using the formula. We now compute
the mean based from the formula.

The first thing we have to do in computing the mean of a frequency distribution is to add two columns
to the table, the x and fx columns. X for raw data are the values of the data while x for a frequency
distribution are the class marks.
 Class f x fx
1–5 2 3 6
6 – 10 4 8 32
11 – 15 3 13 39
16 – 20 1 18 18
TOTAL 10 95

Then compute the mean using the formula:

µ= = = 9.5

Note that the first solution presented here is just intended to explain the concept and the basic
assumption in computing the mean of a frequency distribution. The assumption if you are using the
mean of a frequency distribution as a measure of central location or is used as an average is that, the
values of the data that belong to the same class are equal. They are equal to the class mark. The solution
in computing the mean based from the assumption will result to a very long solution if used in a
standard numerical frequency distribution where the total number of classes is more than six. You use
the formula in computing the mean for a more simple and shorter solution.

Example 2: Find the mean of the data given below:

Class f
1–5 2
6 – 10 4
11 – 15 3
16 – 20 1
TOTAL 10

Solution:
Class f x fx
1–5 2 3 6
6 – 10 4 8 32
11 – 15 3 13 39
16 – 20 1 18 18
TOTAL 10 95

Again, it is not stated that the given set of data is a population data or a sample data and we have to
assume that these are sample observations:

ȳ= == = 9.5
MEDIAN

Let md be the median

Median is the middle value of the given set of data. You have to arrange the data from lowest to highest
or from highest to lowest before getting the middle value.

Example 1:

Find the median of the given set of data:

4, 3, 3, 9, 9, 5, 3, 2, 7

Solution:

Arrange the data from lowest to highest

2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 9

The middle value is 4 and that is the median of the given set of data. There are four data to the
left of 4 and four data to the right of 4.

Example 2:

Find the median of the given set of data:

5, 4, 9, 9, 3, 1, 7, 4, 9, 6

Solution:

Arrange the data from lowest to highest

1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9

There are two middle values in this given set of data and these are 5 and 6. Add the two middle
values and divide it by 2 to get the median. Median = = 5.5

You have to arrange the data set from lowest to highest or from highest to lowest before getting the
middle value. If the total number of observations is odd, there is only one middle value and that is the
median. But if the total number of observations is even, there are two middle values. You add the two
middle values and divide it by 2 to get the median.
To compute for the median of a grouped data or in a form of a numerical frequency distribution, you will
use the formula:

md = l + c [ ]

wherein:

l = lower class boundary of the median class

c is the class interval of the median class

n is the total number of observations

F if the less than cumulative frequency immediately less than

f is the frequency of the median class

median class is the class wherein data number belong

Computing the median of a frequency distribution could be best explained by an example.

Example 1:

Find the median of the given data set:

Class f
1–5 2
6 – 10 4
11 – 15 3
16 – 20 1
TOTAL 10
Solution:

Note that to compute the median for raw data set, you have to array the data or arrange the
data set from lowest to highest or from highest to lowest before getting the middle value. Since we do
not know the actual values of our data set if it is in a form of a numerical frequency distribution, we
have to make an assumption. We place our assumption in the middle of the class or we use the class
marks as the assumed values of our data set that belong to that particular class if we are computing for
the mean. Since we have two data that belong to class 1 to 5, we assume that the values of both data
are equal to 3. The class mark for class 1 to 5. However this is not the assumption if we are computing
for the median. We distribute evenly the number of data that belong to a particular class in the entire
class. Class 1 to 5 actually is from the lower class boundary that is 0.5 to the class boundary whic is 5.5.
This class will be divided equally into two parts since there are two data that belong to this class, the
first part is occupied by data number 1 which is the lowest data while the second part is occupied by
data number 2 the second lowest data. The first part ranges from 0.5 to 3 while the second part ranges
from 3 to 5.5. The assumed value of data number 1 is 3 (the upper end of the first part) while the
assumed value of data number two is 5.5 (the upper end of the second part). These two data belong to
class 1 to 5 but with different assumed values. The four data that belong to class 6 to 10 will again be
distributed in the entire class of 6 to 10 and the three data that belong to class 11 to 15 will also
distributed evenly in that class. With this assumption, we were able to arrange the data from lowest to
highest following the procedure in computing the median. Supposedly, there are two middle values in
this given frequency distribution since the total number of observations is equal to 10 which is an even
number. These are data number 5 and data number 6. We are supposed to add the values of these two
data and divide it by 2 to get the median if we are dealing with raw data. But this is not the case for
grouped data. The value of data number is the median of grouped data. In this frequency
distribution, n is equal to 10 and one half of that is five. The value of data number five is the median of
this frequency distribution. To get the value of data number 5, we will divide class 5 to 10 into four equal
parts since there are four data that belong to this class. These are data numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6 since data
1 and 2 occupies class 1 to 5. The assumed values of these data are equivalent to the distance from zero,
the beginning of the line number system to their exact location in that frequency distribution. Note that
class 1 to 5 start from the lower class boundary that is 0.5 to the upper class boundary that is 5.5, while
class 6 to 10 starts from 5.5 to 10.5. The class interval of class 6 to 10 is 5 and this is divided equally into
four parts and the result is equal to 1.25. Data number 3 occupies the first ¼ of class 6 to 10, data
number 4 occupies the second ¼, data number 5 occupies the third ¼ while data number 6 occupies the
last ¼ of class 6 to 10. The distance from 5.5 (the lower class boundary) to data number 3 is 1.25. The
distance from the lower class boundary to data number four is 2.5. The distance from the lower class
boundary to data number five is 3.75 and the distance from the lower class boundary to data number 6
is 5. So the distance from the beginning of the line number system to the exact location of data number
five is 5.5 (the lower class boundary) plus 3.75 which is equal to 9.25. This is the exact location of data
number n, the median of this frequency distribution. But this procedure in getting the median of a
frequency distribution is based from the concept. The formula presented above is based from this
assumption. There is no data that have the same value in a frequency distribution if we use the median
as a measure of central location.

We now compute the median based from the formula. The first step in computing the median of a
frequency distribution is to construct the less than cumulative frequency distribution. So we have to add
another column to the table, the less than cumulative distribution now denoted as F

Class f F
1–5 2 2
6 – 10 4 6
11 – 15 3 9
16 – 20 1 10
TOTAL 10
 (1/2)n = 5
Median class is class 6 – 10; data number 5 belong to this class
F = 2; less cumulative frequency immediately less than (1/2)n
f = 4; the frequency of the median class
c = 5; the class interval of the median class
l = 5.5; the lower class boundary of the median class

You could easily determine the class where your data number belong which is the median class
based from the less than cumulative distribution. Note that data 1 and 2 belong to class 1 – 5 and 2 is
the less than cumulative frequency of class 1 to 5 ; data number 3, 4, 5, and 6 belong to class 6 – 10 and
6 is the less than cumulative frequency of class 6 to 10; data number 7, 8, and 9 belong to class 11 – 15
and 9 is the less than cumulative frequency of class 11 to 15, while data number 10 belong to class 16 –
20.
Using the formula:

md = l + c [ ]

md = 5.5 + 5

md = 5.5 + 5

md = 9.25

Example 2:

Find the mean and the median of this frequency distribution:

Classs f
1 -3 5
4–6 9
7–9 13
10 – 12 17
13 – 15 19
16 – 18 15
19 – 21 11
22 – 24 11
25 – 27 7
28 – 30 3
TOTAL 110
Solution:

We need two additional columns in order to compute the mean, the x and fx column:

Class f x fx
1 -3 5 2 10
4–6 9 5 45
7–9 13 8 104
10 – 12 17 11 187
13 – 15 19 14 182
16 – 18 15 17 255
19 – 21 11 20 220
22 – 24 11 23 253
25 – 27 7 26 182
28 – 30 3 29 87
TOTAL 110 1,525

Using the formula in computing the mean:

,
ȳ= = = 13.86

We have to construct the less than cumulative frequency distribution in order to compute the median:

Classs f F
1 -3 5 5
4–6 9 14
7–9 13 27
10 – 12 17 44
13 – 15 19 63
16 – 18 15 78
19 – 21 11 89
22 – 24 11 100
25 – 27 7 107
28 – 30 3 110
TOTAL 110

Using the formula in computing the median:

md = l + c [ ]

½ n = 55
 Median class is class 13 – 15; data number 45 to 63 belong to this class including data 55
l = 12.5
c=3
F = 44; this is the less than cumulative immediately less than 55
f = 19; frequency of the median class
Substituting all these values in the formula:

md = l + c [ ]

md = 12.5 + 3 [ ]

md = 12.5 + 3 [ ]

md = 14.24

MODE – is the data that appears most frequently.

Example:

What is the mode of the given set of data:

2, 5, 9, 9, 7, 4, 9, 5
Solution:
Since 9 appear most frequently, this is the mode of the given data set.

Mode is rarely used as a measure of central location. We will not focus so much on this measure of
central location.

B. OTHER MEASURES OF LOCATION

1. QUARTILES
2. DECILES
3. PERCENTILES

We compute the median of raw data by arranging the data set from lowest to highest or from highest to
lowest then we get the middle value while the median of grouped data is the value of data number
1/2n. We could also compute the value of data number 1/4n, 2/4n and 3/4n and we call these values as
the quartiles. The value of data number 1/4n is the first quartile, the value of data number 2/4n is the
second quartile and the value of data number 3/4n is the third quartile. However, 2/4n is also equal to
1/2n, so the second quartile is also the median and we do not compute the second quartile but instead
the median.

We can also compute the value of data number 1/10n, 2/10n, … up to 9/10n and these values are the
deciles. The first decile is the value of data number 1/10n and the value of data number 9/10n is the
ninth decile. The fifth decile is also the median.
We can also compute the value of data number 1/100n, 2/100n up to 99/100n and these are the
percentiles. The fiftieth percentile is also the median.

The formula in computing the median is

md = l + c [ ]

We follow a similar formula in computing the other measures of location since the concept and the basic
assumption in computing the median and the other measures of location are the same.

The formula in computing the first quartile is:

Q1 = l + c [ ] since this the value of data number

And the formula in computing the third quartile is:

Q3 = l + c [ ] this is the value of data number

Likewise, the formula in computing the seventh decile is:

D7 = l + c [ ] this is the value of data number

And the formula in computing the eighty seventh percentile is:

P87 = l + c [ ]

Example: find the first quartile, the third decile and the fifteenth percentile of the given set of data:

Classs f
1 -3 5
4–6 9
7–9 13
10 – 12 17
13 – 15 19
16 – 18 15
19 – 21 11
22 – 24 11
25 – 27 7
28 – 30 3
TOTAL 110
Solution:

Following the same procedure in computing the median, the first step in computing the other measures
of location is to construct the less than cumulative frequency distribution denoted by F column.

Classs f F
1 -3 5 5
4–6 9 14
7–9 13 27
10 – 12 17 44
13 – 15 19 63
16 – 18 15 78
19 – 21 11 89
22 – 24 11 100
25 – 27 7 107
28 – 30 3 110
TOTAL 110

Computing for the first quartile:

Q1 = l + c [ ]

1/4n = 27.5

F (less than cumulative frequency immediately less than 1/4n) = 27

The class wherein data number 1/4n belongs is class 10 – 12 and the frequency of this class is 17 while
the lower class boundary is 9.5 and the class interval is 3.

Substituting all these values in the formula:

Q1 = l + c [ ]

.
Q1 = 9.5 + 3 [ ]

Q1 = 9.59

Computing the third decile D3:

D3 = l + c [ ]

3/10n = 33
 F (the less than cumulative frequency immediately less than 3/10n) = 27

The class wherein data number 33 belongs is class 10 – 12 and the frequency of this class is 17
while the lower class boundary is 9.5 and the class interval is 3.

Substituting all these values in the formula:

D3 = l + c [ ]

D3 = 9.5 + 3 [ ]

D3 = 10.56

Computing the fifteenth percentile P15:

P15 = l + c [ ]

15/100n = 16.5

F (the less than cumulative frequency immediately less than 16.5) = 14

The class wherein data number 16.5 belong is class 7 – 9 and the frequency of this class is 13
while the lower class boundary is 6.5 and the class interval is 3.

Substituting all these values in the formula:

.
P15 = 6.5 + 3 [ ]

P15 = 7.08

References:
1. Freund, John E., Williams, Frank J.; Business statistics
2. Ronald E. Walpole (1974); Introduction to Statistics: Third Edition; EDCA Publishing &
Distributing Corporation, Quezon City
3. Ronald E. Walpole, Raymond H. Myers, Sharon L. Myers (1998); Probability and Statistics for
Engineers and Scientists: sixth edition; Prentice Hall International, Inc.
 GUIDED EXERCISE

Fill the blanks of this guided exercise with the correct figures, words, phrases or sentences, write
your name in every page and scan it together with your solution of the exercises given at the
end of this material. Send these materials through email to robbiecapon@gmail.com.

MEASURES OF LOCATION

Measures of Central Location – Measures of central location are all used to express an ___1___.
There are three measures of central location:
4. Mean
5. Median
6. Mode

MEAN

I would like to start my discussion on the mean by introducing some terms and notations that are often
used when dealing with the mean.

Let

µ be the population mean and ȳ be the sample mean. Usually the sample mean is denoted by x
with a bar above the letter x. However, I do not know how to place a bar above x so I will just use ȳ to
represent the sample mean. I have a symbol of ȳ in my laptop.

Note also that there are two types of data, the raw data and the grouped data. Grouped data is in a
form of a ___________2___________________. To compute for the mean for raw data, add the values
of all the data and divide the result by the total number of observations or the total number of data that
were added.

µ=

ȳ=

N is the size of the population and n is the size of sample. These are standard notations for size of
sample, size of the population, population mean and sample mean. If you are dealing with population
data, the mean is denoted by µ and the size of population is N. but if you are dealing with sample
observations the mean is denoted by ȳ and the size of the sample is denoted by n.

Problem 1: Find the mean of the population data given below: ( 2 points)

14, 19, 24, 39, 25, 12, 16, 42

Solution: (show your solution below)

Problem 2: Find the mean of the data given below: (2 points)

14, 19, 24, 39, 25, 12, 16, 42

Solution: (show your solution below)

The result in Problem 1 is just the same as in Problem 2 but the interpretation is different. In Problem 1,
it means that you have conducted a ____7____ and that is the mean of the population data which is a
parameter. While in Problem 2, it means that your set of data is just a part or a portion of a bigger set of
data and the result is used to estimate the mean of the population. The sample mean ȳ is just a ___8___
or just an estimate of the true value of a population.

To compute the mean of grouped data, you will use the formula:

µ= for population data

ȳ= for sample data

Problem 3: Find the mean of the population data given below: (3 points)

Class f
1–4 2
5–8 7
9 – 12 11
13 – 16 13
17 – 20 15
TOTAL 48
Solution:

Grouped data is in a form of a numerical frequency distribution. This is not a standard numerical
frequency distribution because the total number of classes is just equal to ____11___. Standard
numerical frequency distribution usually has 7 to 14 classes. However, we will use this frequency
distribution to make my explanation more simple for you to understand the basic assumption in dealing
with grouped data.

The frequency distribution above shows that are 2 data whose values ranging from 1 to 4; 7 data whose
values ranging from 5 to 8; 11 data whose values ranging from ______12_____ ; 13 data whose values
ranging from 13 to 16 and ____13____ data ranging from 17 to 20. But you do not know the actual
values of the data. This is one of the disadvantages of presenting the data in tabular form, some
information are lost. Note that when you compute the mean you are supposed to add the values of the
given set of data which you do not know at this point. You have to make an assumption in order to
compute the mean of the given set of data. You will use the center value of the class or the _____14___
as the assumed value for the data that belong to that particular class. The center or the class mark for
class 1 to 4 is ____15____. Adding the lower and the upper limits 1+ 4 and dividing the result by 2 is the
class mark of class 1 to 4. This is the assumed value of the data that belong to class 1 to 4. The assumed
values of the data that belong to class 5 to 8 is 6.5. The assumed values of the data that belong to class 9
to 12 is 1310.5 while the assumed value of the data that belong to class 13 to 16 is _____16_____.

Class f assumed values (fill the blanks 2 points)

1–4 2 ________________________________
5–8 7 ________________________________
9 – 12 11 ________________________________
13 – 16 13 ________________________________
17 – 20 15 ________________________________
TOTAL 48

Adding all the assumed values and dividing the result by 48, (the total number of observations) is equal
to 13.17. This is the mean of the given frequency distribution. Note that we computed the mean based
from the concept and not using the formula.

We now compute the mean based from the formula.

 Class f x fx
1–4 2 2.5 5
5–8 7 6.5 45.5
9 – 12 11 10.5 115.5
13 – 16 13 14.5 188.5
17 – 20 15 18.5 277.5
TOTAL 48 632.0

µ= = ___19____

For raw data, x are the individual values of the data but x is the _____20____ for frequency distribution.
Note that the first solution presented here is just intended to explain the concept and the basic
assumption in computing the mean of a frequency distribution. This will result to a very long solution if
used in a standard numerical frequency distribution. You use the formula in computing the mean for a
more simple and shorter solution.

Problem 4: Find the mean of the data given below:

Class f
1–4 2
5–8 7
9 – 12 11
13 – 16 13
17 – 20 15
TOTAL 48
Solution:
Class f x fx
1–4 2 2.5 5
5–8 7 6.5 45.5
9 – 12 11 10.5 115.5
13 – 16 13 14.5 188.5
17 – 20 15 18.5 277.5
TOTAL 48 632.0

Again, it is not stated that the given set of data is a population data or a sample data and we have to
assume that these are sample observations: find the mean and show your solution below: (2 points)
MEDIAN

Let md be the median

Median is the middle value of the given set of data. You have to arrange the data from lowest to highest
or from highest to lowest before getting the middle value.

Problem 1:

Find the median of the given set of data:

9, 12, 14, 17, 9, 15, 21

Solution:

Arrange the data from lowest to highest

_____________23____________ (arrange the data)

The middle value is __24__ and that is the median of the given set of data.

Problem 2:

Find the median of the given set of data:

25, 32, 49, 22, 15, 43, 35, 29

Solution:

Arrange the data from lowest to highest

______________25________________(arrange the data)

There are two middle values in this given set of data and these are _____26______. Add the two
middle values and divide it by 2 to get the median. Median = ______27______.

You have to arrange the data set from lowest to highest or from highest to lowest before getting the
middle value. If the total number of observations is odd, there is only one middle value and that is the
median. But if the total number of observations is even, there are two middle values. You add the two
middle values and divide it by 2 to get the median.

To compute for the median of a grouped data, you will use the formula:

md = l + c [ ]
 wherein:

l = lower class boundary of the median class

c is the class interval of the median class

n is the total number of observations

F if the less than cumulative frequency immediately less than

f is the frequency of the median class

median class is the class wherein data number belong

Problem 3:

Find the median of the given data set:

Class f
1–4 2
5–8 7
9 – 12 11
13 – 16 13
17 – 20 15
TOTAL 48

Solution:

Note that to compute the median of a data set, you have to array the data or arrange the data
set from lowest to highest or from highest to lowest before getting the value. Since we do not know the
actual values of our data set if it is in a form of a numerical frequency distribution, we have to make an
assumption. We place our assumption in the middle of the class or we use the class marks as the
assumed values of our data set that belong to that particular class if we are computing for the mean.
Since we have two data that belong to class 1 to 4, we assume that the values of both data are equal to
2.5, the class mark for class 1 to 4. However this is not the assumption if we are computing for the
median. We distribute evenly the number of data that belong to a particular class in the entire class.
Class 1 to 4 actually is from the lower class boundary that is 0.5 to the class boundary that is 4.5. This
class will be divided equally into two parts, the first part is occupied by the first data while the second
part is occupied by the second data. The assumed value of the first data is 2.5 while the assumed value
of data number two is 4.5. These two data belong to class 1 to 5 but with different assumed values. The
seven data that belong to class 5 to 8 will again be distributed in the entire class of 5 to 5 and so as with
the other classes. With this assumption, we were able to arrange the data from lowest to highest
following the procedure in computing the median. Supposedly, there are two middle values in this given
frequency distribution since the total number of observations is equal to 48 which is an even number.
These are data number 24 and data number 25. We are supposed to add the values of these two data
and divide it by 2 to get the median if we are dealing with raw data. But this is not the case for grouped
data. The value of data number is the median of grouped data. In this frequency distribution, n is
equal to 48 and one half of that is 24. The value of data number 24 is the median of this frequency
distribution.

We now compute the median based from the formula. The first step in computing the median of a
frequency distribution is to construct the __________________________28_________ that will be
denoted now by F.

Class f F(fill the blank 2 points)

1–4 2 ___
5–8 7 ___
9 – 12 11 ___
13 – 16 13 ___
17 – 20 15 ___
TOTAL 48

(1/2)n = 24
Median class is class 13 - 16; data number 24 belong to this class
F = 20; less cumulative frequency immediately less than (1/2)n
f = 13; the frequency of the median class
c = 4; the class interval of the median class
l = 12.5; the lower class boundary of the median class

md = l + c [ ]
md = __31___

Problem3:

Find the mean and the median of this frequency distribution:

Class f
0 -3 2
4–7 7
8 – 11 11
12 – 15 16
16 – 19 15
20 – 23 14
24 – 27 13
28 – 31 9
32 – 35 8
36 – 39 5
TOTAL 100
Solution:

We need two addition columns in order to compute the mean, the x and fx column (fill the blanks to
complete the table: 3 points)

Classs f x fx
0 -3 2 __ ___
4–7 7 __ ___
8 – 11 11 __ ___
12 – 15 16 __ ___
16 – 19 15 __ ___
20 – 23 14 __ ___
24 – 27 13 __ ___
28 – 31 9 __ ___
32 – 35 8 __ ___
36 – 39 5 __ ___
TOTAL 100

ȳ= = ____35___

We have to construct the less than cumulative frequency distribution in order to compute the median:

Classs f F (fill the blanks 2 points)

0 -3 2 __
4–7 7 __
8 – 11 11 __
12 – 15 16 __
16 – 19 15 __
20 – 23 14 __
24 – 27 13 __
28 – 31 9 __
32 – 35 8 __
36 – 39 5 __
TOTAL 100

md = l + c [ ]

md = ____38______
MODE – is the data that appears most frequently. This is rarely used as a measure of central location.

Example:

What is the mode of the given set of data:

14, 16, 22, 29, 12, 14, 19, 15
Solution:
Since __39___ appear most frequently, this is the mode of the given data set.

Since mode is rarely used, we will not focus so much on this measure of central location.

C. OTHER MEASURES OF LOCATION

4. QUARTILES
5. DECILES
6. PERCENTILES

We compute the median by arranging the data set from lowest to highest or from highest to lowest then
we get the middle value. The median of grouped data is the value of data number 1/2n. We could also
compute the value of data number 1/4n, 2/4n and 3/4n and we call these as the _____40_____. The
value of data number 1/4n is the first quartile, the value of data number 2/4n is the second quartile and
the value of data number 3/4n is the third quartile. However, 2/4n is also equal to 1/2n. So the second
quartile is also the median and we do not compute the second quartile but instead the median.

We can also compute the value of data number 1/10n, 2/10n, … up to 9/10n and these are the __41___.
The first decile is the value of data number 1/10n and the value of data number 9/10n is the ninth
decile. The fifth decile is also the median.

We can also compute the value of data number 1/100n, 2/100n up to 99/100n and these are the
____42______. The fiftieth percentile is also the median.

The formula in computing the median is

md = _____43______ (write the formula)

We follow a similar formula in computing the other measures of location since the concept and the basic
assumption in computing the median and the other measures of location are the same.

The formula in computing the first quartile is:

Q1 = l + c [ ]
And the formula in computing the third quartile is:

Q3 = _____44_______ (write the formula)

Likewise, the formula in computing the seventh decile is:

D7 = l + c [ ]

And the formula in computing the fifteenth percentile is:

P15 = _____45______ (write the formula)

Problem: find the third quartile, the seventh decile and the eighty fifth percentile of the given set of
data:

Classs f
1 -3 5
4–6 9
7–9 13
10 – 12 17
13 – 15 19
16 – 18 15
19 – 21 11
22 – 24 11
25 – 27 7
28 – 30 3
TOTAL 110
Solution:

Similar to the procedure in computing the median, the first step in computing the other measures of
location is to construct the __________________46________________ denoted by F column.

Classs f F
1 -3 5 5
4–6 9 14
7–9 13 27
10 – 12 17 44
13 – 15 19 63
16 – 18 15 78
19 – 21 11 89
22 – 24 11 100
25 – 27 7 107
28 – 30 3 110
TOTAL 110
Computing for the third quartile:

Q3 = l + c [ ]

Q3 = _______47________

Computing the seventh decile D7:

D7 = _______48________ (write the formula)

D7 = 15.5 + 3 [ ]

D7 =______49________

Computing the eighty fifth percentile P85:

P85 = l + c [ ]

P85 = _________50_________

Exercises:

1. Find the mean and the median of the given set of data:
19, 15, 22, 37, 49, 52, 34, 26, 45, 16

2. Find the mean, the median, third quartile, seventh decile and the fifth percentile of the given
set of data:

Class f
0 -3 7
4–7 9
8 – 11 12
12 – 15 13
16 – 19 16
20 – 23 15
24 – 27 14
28 – 31 11
32 – 35 8
36 – 39 5
Total 110