Measures of Central Tendency

Prepared by:

CHARLYN Y. EMATA, Ph.D.

Rearranged and Modified by:

JEM BOY B. CABRELLA, Ph.D.

 Objectives
 To define measure of central tendency
 To characterize mean, median, and
mode
 To find the mean, median and mode of
ungrouped and grouped data
 To find the weighted mean and
combined mean
 To describe a set of data using
measures of central tendency
 Measure of Central Tendency

 Anysingle value that is used to identify the

“center” of the data or the typical value

 Anymeasure indicating the center of a set

of data arranged in an increasing or
decreasing order of magnitude (Walpole,
1997)
 Mean

The most common average

The sum of all values of the
observations divided by the number
of observations
The most reliable measure of
central tendency (Asaad, 2008)
Properties of Mean
1. A set of data has only one mean.
2. Mean can be applied for interval and ratio
data.
3. All values in the data are included in
computing the mean.
4. The mean is very useful in comparing two or
more data sets.
5. Mean is affected by the extreme small or
large values on a data set called an outlier.
Mean for Ungrouped Data

Population Mean
 Ifthe set of data x1 , x2, … , xN, not necessarily
distinct, represents a finite population of size
N, then the population mean is

Source: Walpole, 1997

Example 1
 Example 2

The mean number of building permits issued last month

to 12 construction firms in a small city is 6.
Mean for Ungrouped Data
Sample Mean
 Ifthe set of data x1 , x2, … , xn, not
necessarily distinct, represents a finite
sample of size n, then the sample mean is

Source: Walpole, 1997

 Example 1

The mean score of the 10 students in Statistics 101

final exam is 68.6.
 Exercise 1

The mean percentage of foreign impurities in the 7 cans

of a certain brand of tuna is 1.8%.
Exercise 2
 Weighted Mean
The weighted mean is particularly useful when various classes
or groups contribute differently to the total. The weighted mean
is found by multiplying each value by its corresponding weight
and dividing by the sum of the weights.

w X i i
X W = weighted mean
XW  i 1
n
wi = corresponding weight
w i
X i = the value of any particular
i 1 observations or measurement
 Example 1
At the Mathematics Department of San Sebastian College
there are 18 instructors, 12 assistant professors, 7 associate
professors, and 3 professors. Their monthly salaries are P
30,500, P 33,700, P 38,600, and P 45,000. What is the
weighted mean salary?
n

w X i i
w1 X 1  w2 X 2  w3 X 3    wn X n
XW  i 1

n
w1  w2  w3    wn
w
i 1
i

(18)(30500)  (12)(33700)  (7)(38600)  (3)(45000) 1358600

XW  
18  12  7  3 40

X W  33965 or X W  P 33,965
 Exercise 1
Juan Dela Cruz obtained the following grades in the first semester:

Eng Psy Read Bas

Subjects Eco 1 PE 1 CMT 1
1a 1 1 Math 1
Grades 1.8 2.1 2.0 1.2 2.0 1.8 2.0
What
No. is
of the weighted
Units 3.0 average
3.0 (GPA)?
3.0 3.0 3.0 2.0 1.5

w X i i
XW  i 1
n

w
i 1
i
 Combined Mean
The combined mean is the grand mean of all the values in all
groups when two or more groups are combined. There will be
times when we want to determine to mean from a number of
other means.

N X i i X CM = combined mean
X CM  i 1
n N i = sample size
N i 1
i X i = sample means
 Example 1
A study comparing the typical household incomes for 3
districts in the City of Manila was initiated to see where
differences in household incomes lie across districts. The mean
household incomes for a sample of 45 different families in
three districts of Manila are shown in the ff. table. Calculate
the combined mean to obtain the average household income
for all 45 families in the Manila sample.

District 1 District 2 District 3

X 1  P30,400 X 2  P 27,300 X 3  P 42,500

N1  12 N 2  18 N 3  15
 Example 1
District 1 District 2 District 3

X 1  P30,400 X 2  P 27,300 X 3  P 42,500

N1  12 N 2  18 N 3  15
n

N X i i
N1 X 1  N 2 X 2  N 3 X 3    N n X n
X CM  i 1

n
N1  N 2  N 3    N n
N i 1
i

(12)(30400)  (18)(27300)  (15)(42500)

X CM 
12  18  15

X CM  33193.33 or X CM  P 33193.33
 Exercise 1
The teacher in Probability and Statistics conducted a 100-item
test in four sections A, B, C and D. Following are mean scores
of the four sections:
Section A Section B Section C Section D

X 1  75.50 X 2  82.33 X 3  90.41 X 4  87.66

N1  28 N 2  27 N 3  34 N 3  27

Find the combined mean.

 Median
 The positional middle of the arrayed
data.
 In an array, one-half of the values
precede the median and one-half follow
it.
Properties of Median
1. The median is unique, there is only one median for a set
of data.
2. The median is found by arranging the set of data from
lowest to highest (or highest to lowest) and getting the
value of the middle observation.
3. Median is not affected by the extreme small or large
values.
4. Median can be computed for an-open ended frequency
distribution.
5. Median can be applied for ordinal, interval and ratio data.
 Finding the Median
Let Xi be the nth observation in the array,
i = 1, 2, …, n

If n is odd, the median position equals

(n + 1)/2 and the value of the (n + 1)/2
th observation in the array is taken as the
median
 Example
 On 5 term tests in Statistics 101, a student
has made grades of 82, 93, 86, 90 and 87.
Find the median for this population of grades.
82 86 87 90 93

µ = 87

The median grade is 87.

 Finding the Median
Let Xi be the nth observation in the array,
i = 1, 2, …, n

If n is even, the mean of the two middle

values in the array is the median.
 Example
 The nicotine contents for a random
sample of 6 cigarettes of a certain brand
are found to be 2.3, 2.7, 2.5, 2.9, 3.1 and
1.9 milligrams. Find the median.
1.9 2.3 2.5 2.7 2.9 3.1
x = (2.5 + 2.7)/2 = 2.6

The median nicotine content for a random sample of

6 cigarettes of a certain brand is 2.6 milligrams.
Exercise
 Exercise
 The number of employees at 5 different
drugstores are 10, 12, 6, 8, and 4. Treating
the data as a sample, find the median
number of employees for the 5 stores.

4 6 8 10 12
The median number of employees for the 5
stores is 8.
 Mode
 The observed value that occurs most
frequently
 Locates the point where the
observation values occur with the
greatest density
 Generally less popular measure than
the mean or the median
Properties of Mode
1. The mode is found by locating the most
frequently occurring value.
2. The mode is the easiest average to compute.
3. There can be more than one mode or even
no mode in any given data set.
4. Mode is not affected by the extreme small or
large values.
5. Mode can be applied for nominal, ordinal,
interval and ratio data.
 Example
 The scores of 8 students in College
Algebra are 16, 40, 25, 37, 25, 47, 30
and 25. Find the mode.

The modal score is 25.

 Exercise
 Find the mode, provided, it exists.
6, 8, 6, 5, 5, 7, 7, 9, 7, 6, 8, 4, and 7

The mode is 7.
 Exercise
 Findthe mode, provided, it exists.
57, 89, 91, 79, 77, 73, 76, 74

There is no mode.
 Exercise
 Findthe mode, provided, it exists.
87, 80, 85, 82, 81, 80, 84, 84, 79

The modes are 80 and 84.

 Characteristics of the Mode

 It does not always exist, and if it does,

it may not be unique.
 It is not affected by extreme scores.
 The mode can be used for qualitative
as well as quantitative data.
 References
 Asaad, A. (2008). Statistics Made Simple for
Researchers. Rex Book Store Inc. Manila.
 Ferguson, G. & Takane, Y. (1989). Statistical
Analysis in Psychology and Education. McGraw-
Hill Book Company, USA.
 Freund, J. (2003). Modern Elementary Statistics
(10th Ed.). Pearson Education Asia Pte Ltd,
Singapore.
 Walpole, R. (1997). Introduction to Statistics (3rd
Ed.). Prentice Hall International, Inc., USA.
 Teaching Guide in Grade 8 Mathematics
Assignment Nov. 5, 2016
Answer the following questions.

1. Find the mean, median and mode of the 15 students in a 20-item quiz in
Statistics and Probability: 15, 12, 13, 14, 14, 14, 15, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 18 and
14. Then, interpret each.

2. Find the mean, median and mode of each class and write your answers on the
table.

Raw scores of 5
Class Mean Median Mode
sample students
A 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
B 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
C 1, 3, 5, 7, 9
Assignment Nov. 5, 2016
Answer the following questions.

1. Find the mean, median and mode of the 15 students in a 20-item quiz in
Statistics and Probability: 15, 12, 13, 14, 14, 14, 15, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 18 and
14. Then, interpret each.

2. Find the range, mean absolute deviation and variance of the given samples
scores of 5 students in classes A, B and C. Interpret each.

Class Raw scores of 5 Range Mean Absolute Variance

sample students Deviation
A 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
B 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
C 1, 3, 5, 7, 9
That’s all!!
Thank you!!!