Gabriel Essilfie

Measures of Central Tendency

It is observed that most of the terms in a data
seem to be crowded in its central part when data
are arranged in increasing order.
The tendency of the observations to cluster in the
central part of the data is called Central
Tendency of the data.

The measure of central tendency are the averages

of frequency distribution; mean, mode, median
 Gabriel Essilfie

Mean
• 1. The mean of a set of numbers or values.
Given a set of values; x1 , x2 , x3 ,……. Xn.
The mean =
=

Where ‘n’ is the number of observations

 Gabriel Essilfie

Examples
• Find the mean of the following set of numbers
• i. 0,2,3,4,5 and 4

• ii. 3,9,11,28,37,20 ( solve)

• iii. 3,4,4,4,5,8,8,9 (solve)

 Gabriel Essilfie

Correct answers
• i. 3
• ii. 18
• iii. 5.625
 Gabriel Essilfie

exercise
• The average of five numbers 4, 10, 24, x and 16 is
13. Find the value of x

• The average age of a class of 20 students is

15years and the average age of another class of
30 is 20 years. Find the average age of the
students of the two classes
 Gabriel Essilfie

Assignment
• The average test mark for a class of 20 is
65. Peter’s mark was recorded as 35
instead of 55, what is the correct average
mark for the test.
 Gabriel Essilfie

Calculating the mean from a frequency distribution table.

• Given a set of values (x1 , x2 , x3 ,……. Xn.) with the

corresponding frequency (f1 , f2 , f3 ,……. fn. )

• The mean () is given by

=
Example Gabriel Essilfie

In a workshop, the time taken by 120 trainees to

identify a fault in machine is shown in the table
below. Find the mean.
No. of Minute No. of Trainees
1 2
2 3
3 5
4 10
5 15
6 30
7 25
8 15
9 10
10 5
 Gabriel Essilfie

• The frequency table below shows the ages of

pupils in a class.
• A. How many pupil are in the class
• B. Find the mean
Age(yrs) 14 15 16 17 18

Frequency 10 35 7 5 3
Assignment Gabriel Essilfie

In a workshop, the time taken by some trainees to identify

a fault in machine is shown in the table below. If the mean
of the distribution is 6.275, find the value of y
No. of Minute No. of Trainees
1 2
2 3
3 5
4 y
5 15
6 30
7 25
8 15
9 10
10 5
 Gabriel Essilfie

Mode
• The Mode is the value with the largest frequency
or the most occurring value.

• The Mode can be read directly from the

frequency table.

• Remember that the mode is the value, NOT

THE Frequency.
 Gabriel Essilfie

Median
1. The Median of a set of numbers or values is the
middle value or the arithmetic mean of the two
middle values, if they are arranged in
increasing order of magnitude.

2. Note that the median is the value, NOT THE

Frequency.
 Gabriel Essilfie

How to find a median

• To find the median of a set of n numbers: x 1, x2,
x3,…..,xn
1. Arrange the numbers in order of magnitude
2. If n is an odd number, then the median is the
middle item i.e (n+1)th item or observation.
3. If n is an even number, then the median is
the arithmetic mean of the two middle terms.
i.e the (n)th and the (n+1)th item or the
(n)th term and the item next to it
 Gabriel Essilfie

examples
• Find the median of the following set of numbers
• 2,1,2,3,5
• 3,7,2,9,8,11,12
• 3,7,4,1,2,2,3,6,9,8
 Gabriel Essilfie

Exercise
• Find the median of the following numbers;
• 2,1,3,5,4,4
• 9,3,1,5,8,5,7,4,8,4,7,6
 Gabriel Essilfie

Median from an ungrouped Frequency

Distribution
• Step 1: find the total frequency i.e or N.
1. Step 2: if N is an odd number, then the median
is the middle item i.e (+1)th or (N+1)th item
or observation.
2. If n is an even number, then the median is
the arithmetic mean of the two middle terms.
i.e the ()th and the (+1)th item or the ()th
term and the item next to it
•
Gabriel Essilfie
 Gabriel Essilfie

• Example:
• The Table below gives the number of accidents
had by 60 drivers last year. What is the median
of these data.

Number of 0 1 2 3 4
Accidents
Number of 15 9 6 19 5
drivers

Number of 5 6 7
Accidents
Number of drivers 3 2 1
 Gabriel Essilfie

• Exercise
• The table below gives data on ages of GIFF
Proficiency Certificate students .
 Gabriel Essilfie

• Organize the data and use it to find the measures

of central Tendency