MODULE 12

Measures of Central Tendency for Grouped Data

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
 Define mean, median and mode for grouped data
 Determine the frequency above and below the median class.
 Compute mean, median and mode for grouped data.
 Compute the difference between the frequency of the modal
class and the frequency below and above it.
 

I.DISCUSSION:

Measures of central tendency are a key way to discuss and communicate with graphs. The term
central tendency refers to the middle, or typical, value of a set of data, which is most commonly
measured by using the three m's: mean, median, and mode. The mean, median, and mode are known
as the measures of central tendency.

Ways to Measure Central Tendency

The three most commonly-used measures of central tendency are the following.
mean
The sum of the values divided by the number of values--often called the "average."

 Add all of the values together.

 Divide by the number of values to obtain the mean.

Example: The mean of 7, 12, 24, 20, 19 is (7 + 12 + 24 + 20 + 19) / 5 = 16.4.

median
The value which divides the values into two equal halves, with half of the values being lower than
the median and half higher than the median.

 Sort the values into ascending order.

 If you have an odd number of values, the median is the middle value.
 If you have an even number of values, the median is the arithmetic mean (see above) of the two
middle values.

Example: The median of the same five numbers (7, 12, 24, 20, 19) is 19.
mode
The most frequently-occurring value (or values).

 Calculate the frequencies for all of the values in the data.

  The mode is the value (or values) with the highest frequency.

Example: For individuals having the following ages -- 18, 18, 19, 20, 20, 20, 21, and 23, the mode is
20.Check your understanding of these concepts by calculating the mean, median, and mode of the
following three sets of numbers.

Measures of Central Tendency for Grouped Data

GROUPED DATA Examples

EXAMPLE NO. 1

Class Intervals f x fx Cumulative Frequency (CF)

91-95 16 93 1,488 165
86-90 18 88 1,584 149
81-85 25 83 2,075 131
76-80 39 78 3,042 106
71-75 35 73 2,555 67
66-70 20 68 1,360 32
61-65 12 63 756 12
N 165 ∑fx = 12,860

Mean = __ ∑fx_
N
Where: __∑ = summation of

f = frequency

x = class mark
N = total number of respondents/observations

Mean = 12,860
165

Mean = 77.9
 Median = L + N/2 - <CFb i
Fmd
Where:
L = lower limit
<CFb= less than cumulative frequency below the median class
i = class size
F md = frequency of the median class

Median = 75.5 + 82.5 - 67 5

39

Median = 75.5 + ( 1.99)

Median = 77.49

Mode

Mo = L + Δ1 i
Δ1 + Δ2

Where:

L - lower class boundary of the median class

Δ1 = difference between the frequency of the modal

class and the frequency above it.

Δ2 = difference between the frequency of the modal

class and the frequency below it.
 i = class size

Note:

Δ2 = 39-35
= 4

i = 5

Mo = 75.5 + ___14____
14 + 4 5

Mo = 75.5 + 3.89

Mo = 79.39

Example No.2:

Construct the frequency distribution table, then find the mean, median and
mode:

Class f x fx Cumulative
Intervals Frequency (CF)
47-51 3 49 147 100
42-46 12 44 528 97
37-41 11 39 429 85
32-36 26 34 884 74
27-31 17 29 493 48
22-26 20 24 480 31
17-21 10 19 190 11
12-16 1 14 14 1
N 100 ∑fx = 3,165
 Mean = __∑fx_
N

Where:∑ = summation of

f = frequency

x = class mark

N = total number of respondents

Mean = 3,165
100

Mean = 31.65
 Median = L + N/2 - <CFb i
Fmd

Where:
L = lower limit
CFb= less than cumulative frequency below
i = class size
F md = frequency of the median class

Median = 31.5 + 50 - 48 5
26

Median = 31.5 + ( 0.38)

Median = 31.88

Mode

Mo = L + Δ1 i
Δ1 + Δ2

Where:

L - lower class boundary of the median class

Δ1 = difference between the frequency of the modal

class and the frequency above it.

Δ2 = difference between the frequency of the modal

class and the frequency below it.

i = class size

Note:
Δ2 = 39-35
= 4
 i = 5

Mo = 31.5 + ___15____
15 + 9 5

Mo = 31.5 + 3.13

Mo = 34.63

Example 2:

The data below shows the mass of 40 students in a class. The measurement is to the nearest kg.

55 70 57 73 55 59 64 72
60 48 58 54 69 51 63 78
75 64 65 57 71 78 76 62
49 66 62 76 61 63 63 76
52 76 71 61 53 56 67 71

Construct a frequency table for the data using an appropriate scale.

Solution:

Step 1:Find the range.

R = Highest Weight - Lowest Weight

R = 78 - 48

R = 30

Step 2: Find the width of class intervals.

K = 1 + 3.3 log (N)

K = 1 + 3.3 log (40)

K = 1 + 3.3 ( 1.60)

K = 1 + 5.28
 K = 6.28

K =6

Step3:Determine the number of class intervals.

No. of Class Intervals = Range/Width of the class intervals

= 30/ 6

= 5

Step 4: Draw the frequency table using the selected scale and intervals.

Class Intervals Tally Frequency Percentage

78 - 83 1 1 2.5%
72 - 77 1111 -111 8 20%
66- 71 1111 -11 7 17.5%
60 - 65 1111 1111 1 11 27.5%
54 - 59 1111- 111 8 20%
48 - 53 1111 5 12.5%
N 40 100%

NOTE: The number of class intervals is 5. If 78 the highest number does not

belong to (72-77) ADD another class interval like ( 78-83).

Yes, based on the computation of number of class interval is 5,

Since 78 is not in this bracket add another class interval .This is

the rule of statistics.

II. ASSESSMENT
III. Solve the Measures of Central Tendency Problem below:

Problem 1: The following data represent the number of passengers per flight in a sample of
50 flights from Wichita, Kansas, to Kansas City Missouri.

23 46 66 67 13 58 19 17 65 17

25 20 47 28 16 38 44 29 48 29

69 34 35 60 37 52 80 59 51 33

48 46 23 38 52 50 17 57 41 77

45 47 49 19 32 64 27 61 70 19

Required:
1) Construct Frequency Distribution Table

2) Compute the ff:

a) Mean

b)Median

c) Mode

d) Interpret the result of mean, median and mode

Problem 2: Construct the frequency distribution table and find the mean absolute deviation,
variance and standard deviation of the following data:
22 25 22 20 23 24 23 21

20 20 22 22 20 28 29 30

27 23 22 21 20 22 23 31

25 21 22 29 18 19 20 22

Required:
1) Construct Frequency Distribution Table

2) Compute the ff:

a) Mean

b)Median

c) Mode

d) Interpret the result of mean, median and mode