MEASURES OF CENT RAL T ENDENCY

The goal of central tendency is to find the single value that is

most typical or most representative of the entire group.

Useful for making comparisons between groups of individuals

or between sets of data.
MEAN

The mean for a distribution is the sum of the observations divided

by the total number of observations.

Advantages of Mean:
✦ Simple to understand and easy to calculate.
✦ It is least affected fluctuation of sampling.
✦ It takes into account all the values
MEAN
• POPULATION • SAMPLE

where:
𝑥 = 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠/𝑖𝑡ℎ observation
= total no. of sample observations
N = total no. of observations in the population
Supposed we want to know the average weight of the
children residing in the municipality of Cabagan. Suppose
we randomly selected 30 children and their age are as
follows:

10 7 7 5 5 9

4 3 3 6 5 5

7 5 3 4 8 7
6 3 5 5 9 7
3 7 6 10 8 6
Table 2. Distribution of the randomly selected children according to their age

Age Frequency
3 5
4 2
5 7
6 4
7 6
8 2
9 2
10 2
Weighted MEAN
• POPULATION • SAMPLE

where:

= frequency of the ith category

= total no. of sample observations
N = total no. of observations in the population
If the final examination of a class in statistics is given the weight 2, the
average quizzes the weight 3, and a project report the weight 1, what
would be the mean grade of a student who got grades 90, 85, and 87,
respectively?
 Supposed we want to know the average weight of the
children residing in the municipality of Cabagan. Suppose
we randomly selected 30 children and their weight (in kg)
are as follows:

34.65 27.21 24.29 20.76 15.92 35.83

17.41 18.06 14.76 23.61 19.95 17.16

27.32 20.07 13.82 19.05 25.77 28.09

24.13 15.35 18.62 18.93 24.89 34.19

13.88 26.30 23.26 32.16 26.53 22.69

Table 3. Frequency distribution of the weights of the randomly selected children

CLASS INTERVALS Class Boundaries Frequency

13-16 12.5-16.5 5
17-20 16.5-20.5 9
21-24 20.5-24.5 5
25-28 24.5-28.5 7
29-32 28.5-32.5 1
33-36 32.5-36.5 3
Table 3. Frequency distribution of the weights of the randomly selected children
middle value of class interval
CLASS Class Boundaries
INTERVALS
13-16 12.5-16.5 5
17-20 16.5-20.5 9
21-24 20.5-24.5 5
25-28 24.5-28.5 7
29-32 28.5-32.5 1
33-36 32.5-36.5 3
TOTAL 30
MEDIAN
• Also the “positional average”

• “middle observation” when the data set is sorted (in either

increasing or decreasing order).

• Specifically, the median is the point on the measurement scale

below which 50% of the observations in the distribution are
located.
MEDIAN
✦ The median is not affected by the size of extreme values but by the
number of observations.
✦ The median can be calculated even when the frequency distribution
contains “open-ended” intervals.
✦ It can also be used to define the middle of a number of objects,
properties, or quantities which are not really quantitative in a nature.
✦ It can be easily interpreted.
MEDIAN
For ungrouped data:

If the total number of observations ( ) is odd, the median is the

centermost value.

If the total number of observations ( ) is even, the median is found

by computing the average of the two middle numbers.
Find the median of the following set of scores in a GEC3 exam :
22, 30, 18, 11, 36, 20, 18, 24, 26, 29
Supposed we want to know the average weight of the
children residing in the municipality of Cabagan. Suppose
we randomly selected 30 children and their age are as
follows:

10 7 7 5 5 9

4 3 3 6 5 5

7 5 3 4 8 7
6 3 5 5 9 7
3 7 6 10 8 6
Table 2. Distribution of the randomly selected children according to their age

Age Frequency Cumulative Frequency

3 5
4 2
5 7
6 4
7 6
8 2
9 2
10 2
Table 3. Frequency distribution of the weights of the randomly selected children

CLASS INTERVALS Class Boundaries Frequency

13-16 12. 5-16 .5 5
17-20 16. 5-20 .5 9
21-24 20. 5-24 .5 5
25-28 24. 5-28 .5 7
29-32 28. 5-32 .5 1
33-36 32. 5-36 .5 3
MEDIAN
The median class is the class interval with the th observation.

For grouped data:

Table 3. Frequency distribution of the weights of the randomly selected children

CLASS Class Boundaries

INTERVALS
13-16 12. 5-16. 5 5
17-20 16. 5-20. 5 9
21-24 20. 5-24. 5 5
25-28 24. 5-28. 5 7
29-32 28. 5-32. 5 1
33-36 32. 5-36. 5 3
TOTAL 30
MODE
• It is the value/observation/category in a list of data that has the
greatest frequency.
• The mode is a useful measure of central tendency because it can be
used to determine the typical or most frequent value for any scale
of measurement, including a nominal scale
• It is the only measure of central tendency used in both quantitative
and qualitative data.
EXAMPLES
1,2,2,3,4,5,2,5,6,6,7,9,6

39, 37, 23, 25, 25, 63, 37, 45, 48, 48, 51, 28, 45, 50, 23

5, 2, 9, 8, 5, 12, 13, 6, 10
Table 2. Distribution of the randomly selected children according to their age

Age Frequency
3 5
4 2
5 7
6 4
7 6
8 2
9 2
10 2
Table 3. Frequency distribution of the weights of the randomly selected children

CLASS INTERVALS Class Boundaries Frequency

13-16 12. 5-16 .5 5
17-20 16. 5-20 .5 9
21-24 20. 5-24 .5 5
25-28 24. 5-28 .5 7
29-32 28. 5-32 .5 1
33-36 32. 5-36 .5 3