MEASURES OF CENTRAL

TENDENCY
1. ARITHMETIC MEAN
Definition: The arithmetic mean of a set of data is found by taking the sum of the data, and
then dividing the sum by the total number of values in the set. A mean is commonly referred
to as an average.
Population Mean
𝑁
𝑖=1 𝑋𝑖
𝜇=
𝑁
Example 1: Find the population mean driving speed for 6 different cars on the same highway.

66 mph, 57 mph, 71 mph, 54 mph, 69 mph, 58 mph

66 + 57 + 71 + 54 + 69 + 58 375
𝜇= = = 62.5𝑚𝑝ℎ
6 6
Sample Mean:
𝑛
𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖
𝑋=
𝑛
Example 2: The John family drove through 4 midwestern states on their summer vacation.
Gasoline prices varied from state to state. What is the mean gasoline price?

$1.79, $1.61, $1.96, $2.08

1.79 + 1.61 + 1.96 + 2.08

𝑋=
4
PROPERTIES OF ARITHMETIC MEAN
1. Mean of any constant is constant itself.
5+5+5+5+5+5+5+5+5+5
𝑋= =5
10
2. If a constant say “a” added to original values then mean will be also increased by
“a” constant. If 𝑌 = 𝑎 + 𝑋 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑌 =𝑎+𝑋

Coded Original Coded Original

Values Values Mean Mean
3. If 𝑌 = 𝑋 − 𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑌 = 𝑋 − 𝑎
4. If 𝑌 = 𝑎𝑋 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑌 = 𝑎𝑋
𝑋 𝑋
5. If 𝑌 = 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑌 =
𝑎 𝑎
Example 1: What is the mean test score if a constant 10 will be minus with random sample of 12 students.
83, 71, 91, 79, 87, 80, 95, 79, 91, 85, 94, 73
Solution:
𝑥 1008
𝑋= = = 84
𝑛 12 X Y = X - 10
Given that 𝑌 = 𝑋 − 10 then 𝑌 = 𝑋 − 10 = 84 − 10 = 74
𝑌 = 74 83 83 – 10 = 73
71 61
Proof: 91 81
𝑦 888
𝑌= = = 74 79 69
𝑛 12
87 77
80 70
95 85
79 69
91 81
85 75
94 84
73 63
6. Sum of deviations from there respective mean always equals to zero

X X - 84
83 83 – 84 = -1
71 71 – 84 = -13
91 91 – 84 = 7
79 -5
𝑋−𝑋 =0 87 3
80 -4
95 11
𝑥 1008
𝑋= = = 84 79 -5
𝑛 12
91 7
85 1
94 10
73 -11

ΣX= 1008 𝑋−𝑋 =0

 WEIGHTED MEAN
A mean where some values contribute more than others.
When some values get more weight than others,
the central point (the mean) can change.

𝑛
𝑖=1 𝑤𝑖 𝑥𝑖
𝑋𝑊 = 𝑛
𝑖−1 𝑤𝑖
Example 1: Sam wants to buy a new camera, and decides on the following rating system:
Image Quality 50%
Battery Life 30%
Zoom Range 20%
The Sony camera gets 8 (out of 10) for Image Quality, 6 for Battery Life and 7 for Zoom Range
The Conan camera gets 9 for Image Quality, 4 for Battery Life and 6 for Zoom Range
Which camera is best?

CONAN X W WX SONY X W WX
Image 9 0.50 4.5 Image 8 0.50 4
Quality Quality
Battery 4 0.30 1.2 Battery 6 0.30 1.8
Life Life
Zoom 6 0.20 1.2 Zoom 7 0.20 1.4
Range Range
Total 1 Total 1
𝑾𝑿 𝑾𝑿

= 𝟔. 𝟗 = 𝟕. 𝟐
Sam decides to buy the Sony.
Example 2: Alex usually eats lunch 7 times a week, but some weeks only gets 1, 2, or 5 lunches.
Alex had lunch:

on 2 weeks: only one lunch for the whole week

on 14 weeks: 2 lunches each week
on 8 weeks: 5 lunches each week
on 32 weeks: 7 lunches each week
What is the mean number of lunches Alex has each week?

X W WX
1 2 2
𝑛
𝑖=1 𝑤𝑖 𝑥𝑖 294
2 14 28
5 8 40 𝑋𝑊 = 𝑛 = = 5.25
𝑖−1 𝑤𝑖 56
7 32 224

𝑊 𝑾𝑿

= 56 = 𝟐𝟗𝟒
COMBINED MEAN
A combined mean is a mean of two or more separate groups
𝑋1 𝑛1 + 𝑋2 𝑛2 + ⋯ + 𝑋𝑘 𝑛𝑘
𝑋𝐶 =
𝑛1 + 𝑛2 + ⋯ + 𝑛𝑘
Example: Suppose you are running a survey on math proficiency (as measured by an achievement test) in
kindergarten, and you have results from two different schools.

In school 1, 57 kindergarteners were tested and their mean score was 82.
In school 2, 23 kindergartners were tested and their mean score was 63.
What will be the combine average score of both schools 1 and 2 ?
82 × 57 + (63 × 23)
𝑋𝐶 = = 76.5
57 + 23
Practice Question 1:
The average time to read a block of text for each of 5 schools are given below. What is the combined
average time of all students for 5 schools?

Practice Question 2:
Out of 100 numbers, 20 were 4s, 40 were 5s, 30 were 6s and the remainder were 7s. Find the mean of the
numbers.
 GEOMETRIC MEAN
The geometric mean is a type of average , usually used for growth rates, like population growth or interest rates. While
the arithmetic mean adds items, the geometric mean multiplies items. Also, you can only get the geometric mean for
positive numbers.

Formally, the geometric mean is defined as “…the nth root of the product of n numbers.”
𝐺. 𝑀 = 𝑛 𝑥1 × 𝑥2 × ⋯ × 𝑥𝑛
𝐿𝑜𝑔 𝐺. 𝑀 = 𝐿𝑜𝑔 𝑛 𝑥1 × 𝑥2 × ⋯ × 𝑥𝑛
1
= 𝐿𝑜𝑔 𝑥1 × 𝑥2 × ⋯ × 𝑥𝑛
𝑛
log 𝑥1 + log 𝑥2 + ⋯ + log 𝑥𝑛
𝐿𝑜𝑔 𝐺. 𝑀 =
𝑛

log 𝑥1 + log 𝑥2 + ⋯ + log 𝑥𝑛

𝐺. 𝑀 = 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑔
𝑛
 The geometric mean of a set of data is always less than the arithmetic mean
 If all members of the data set are the same (identical) (i.e. 2,2,2,2,2,2) then the two means are equal.
Example:
Let’s say you own a piece of art that increases in value by 50% the first year after you buy it, 20% the second year, and
90% the third year. What these numbers tell you is that at the end of the first year the value was multiplied by 150% or
1.5, the second year the value at the end of year 1 was multiplied by 120% or 1.2 and at the end of the third year the
value at the end of year 2 was multiplied by 190% or 1.9. As these are multiplied, what you are looking for is the
geometric mean which can be calculated in the following way:
3
𝐺. 𝑀 = 1.5 × 1.2 × 1.9 = 1.506637… or about 1.51

What the answer of 1.51 is telling you is that if you multiplied your initial investment by 1.51 each year, you would get the
same amount as if you had multiplied it by 1.5, 1.2 and 1.9.

Art work value year 0: $90,000.

Art work value year 1: $90,000 × 1.5 = $135,000
Art work value year 2: $135,000 × 1.2 = $162,000
Art work value year 3: $162,000 × 1.9 = $307,800
or, using the geometric mean:
Year 1 $90,000 × 1.506637 = 135,597.33
Year 2 $135,597.33 × 1.506637 = 204,295.95447921
Year 3 $ 204,295.95447921 × 1.506637 = 307,799.8439686
HARMONIC MEAN
1 2 3 4 5
5m/s 4.5 m / s 4m/s 3.5 m / s 4.8 m / s

100 m

Average speed = Arithmetic Mean

60 km / h 75 km / h 55 km / h 80 km / h

1st km 2nd Km 3rd Km 4th Km

Average Speed = Harmonic mean

𝑛 4 4
H.M = 1 = 1 1 1 1 = = 65.9 𝑘𝑚 / h
+ + + 0.0607
𝑥 60 75 55 80
ARITHMETIC MEAN FOR GROUPED DATA
Class
FREQUEN
Classes
CY
Marks
fX
X

𝑓𝑋 2020
1 50 - 54 3 52 3 × 52 = 𝑋= = = 67.3
156 𝑓 30

2 55 - 59 4 57 228

3 60 - 64 5 62 310

4 65 - 69 5 67 335

5 70 - 74 6 72 432

6 75 - 79 4 77 308

7 80 - 84 2 82 164

8 85 - 89 1 87 87
TOT
30 2020
AL
 FREQUENC Class
62 72 50 70 85 70 80 75 75 76
Classes Y Marks
70 50 55 75 80 62 65 65 70 65
X 50 56 56 60 60 67 55 70 60 65
50 - 55 5 52.5
56 - 61 5 58.5
62 - 67 7 64.5
68 - 73 6 70.5
74 - 79 4 76.5
80 - 85 3 82.5