INSTITUTE: UIE (AIT-CSE)

PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS

CST-229

Lecture – 1.2

TOPIC: MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

(ARITHMETIC MEDAIN)
Instructor : Dr. Archana Sharma(e10375)

DISCOVER . LEARN . EMPOWER

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 Course
Objectives

CO Title Level
Number

CO1 To recall the basic concepts of Probability and

Statistics

CO2 To understand the ideas and classify the

different probability distributions based on
probability event
CO3 To acquire knowledge on various techniques Remember
of Probability and Statistics to analyze the  
behavior of a distribution based on data
available.

CO4 To acquire knowledge on the broad Understand

perspective of probability theory.  

CO5 To acquire knowledge on various discrete and Understand 2

 Course Outcomes

After doing this course student will be able to:

Formulate a statistical problem in mathematical terms from

a real-life situation.

Select an appropriate distribution for analyzing data specific to an

experiment.

Apply statistical hypothesis in general and in practice.

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 Topics to be covered:
• Definition of Median
• Application of Median
• Types of variable
• Arithmetic Median (Raw)
• Arithmetic Median( Discrete & continuous)
• Merits & Demerits

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 Measures of Central Tendency
Median
Denoting or relating to a value or quantity lying at the
midpoint of a frequency distribution of observed values
or quantities, such that there is an equal probability of
falling above or below it.

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 Application of Median
The median is the value that is the mid-point of a group of
values, having an equal number of items in the group above
and below it. For instance, in a room with five people aged
23, 25, 37, 44 and 87, the median age is 37, as there are an
equal number of persons older and younger than 37. The
median is used where strong outliers may skew the
representation of the group, such as with incomes. If you
have one person who earns $1 billion a year and nine other
people who earn under $100,000 a year, the mean income
for people in the group would be around $100 million, a
gross distortion. The median income would be under
$100,000, more closely representing the situation of the
majority of the group.
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 Median ( Raw data)

Types of Variable
• Continuous Variables
• Categorical Variables
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 Categorical Variables
Categorical variables are also known as discrete or qualitative variables. Categorical
variables can be further categorized as either nominal, ordinal or dichotomous.

Nominal variables are variables that have two or more categories, but which
do not have an intrinsic order. For example, a real estate agent could classify
their types of property into distinct categories such as houses, condos, co-ops
or bungalows
Dichotomous variables are nominal variables which have only two categories
or levels. For example, if we were looking at gender, we would most probably
categorize somebody as either "male" or "female".

Ordinal variables are variables that have two or more categories just like
nominal variables only the categories can also be ordered or ranked.
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 DISCRETE VARIABLE (QUANTITATIVE)
Discrete variable refers to the variable that assumes a finite
number of isolated values.

Examples
•Number of printing mistakes in a book.
•Number of road accidents in New Delhi.
•Number of siblings of an individual

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 Definition of Continuous Variable
Continuous variable, as the name suggest is a random
variable that assumes all the possible values in a continuum.
Simply put, it can take any value within the given range. So,
if a variable can take an infinite and uncountable set of
values, then the variable is referred as a continuous variable

Examples
•Height of a person
•Age of a person
•Profit earned by the company.
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Comparison Chart

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How to Calculate Arithmetic
Median in discrete Series?
Here also the data is arranged in ascending or descending order; And the (N+1/2) term is
taken after finding cumulative frequencies. Value of variable corresponding to that term is
the value of Median.
Calculation of Median in Discrete Series:
After arranging the terms, taking cumulative frequencies, we take (N+1/2) and then
calculate.
Steps to Calculate:
(1) Arrange the data in ascending or descending order.
(2) Find cumulative frequencies.
(3) Find the value of the middle item by using the formula
Median = Size of (N+1/2)th item
(4) Find that total in the cumulative frequency column which is equal (N + 1/2)th or
nearer to that value.
(5) Locate the value of the variable corresponding to that cumulative frequency This is the
value of Median.
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 How to Calculate Median (AM) in
Continuous Series?
Continuous Series:
In this case cumulative frequencies is taken and then the
value from the class-interval in which (N/2)th term lies is
taken. Using the formula.
M= L+ N1-Cf/f × i
Where N1 = N/2, L is lower limit of class interval in which
frequency lies.
Cf is the cumulative frequency, f the frequency of that
interval and i is the length of class interval.
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Important Working Hints:
1. Take N1=N/2
2. Looking from the lowest to upper side in the
Cf column we get the value which is firstly
numerically less than N1. It is value of Cf.
3. We come one step down; make the terms in
column ‘f and also the class interval to get f and
L. L is taken from lower limit of class interval.

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Advantages of Median
(i) Simplicity;
 
It is very easy to calculate and is readily understood.
(ii) Unaffected by Extreme Values:
Median is not affected by the extreme values. It is independent of the
range of series.

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 Disadvantages of Median

Median suffers from the following limitations.

 
(i) Lacks Representativeness:
Median does not represent the measure of such series of which different
values are wide apart from each other.
(ii) Erratic:
Median is erratic if the number of items is small.
 

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 FAQ

• Why median is known as measure of central tendency?

• What are the important properties of arithmetic median?
• Which method is best to calculate arithmetic median?
• What are the applications of arithmetic mean?
• In which situation which should use median?

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 Practice problem

What would happen to the mean if all of the scores were

converted by subtracting 10 points from each score?
 
(i) The mean would be unchanged.
(ii) The mean would decrease by 10 points. The mean would
decrease by an amount equal to 10 points divided by the
number of participants.
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The mean would increase by 10 points.
 References
• Book:
•  SP GUPTA and VK KAPOOR ( SULTAN CHAND PUBLICATION)
• Miller and Freund, Probability and Statistics for Engineers, Pearson, 2005

• Websites: NPTEL, KHAN ACADEMY

• Videos:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrynkZB3E7M ( khan academy)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaHFNhHfXwQ&t=1s ( NPTEL)

• Courses: https://www.coursera.org/learn/probability-statistics?
• Introduction to Probability and Statistics (UDEMY)
• https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-05-introduction-to-probability-an
d-statistics-spring-2014/ 22
Topics covered

• DISCRETE VARIABLE
• CONTINOUS VARIABLE
• ARITHMETIC MEDIAN
• HOW TO FIND MEDIAN
• MERITS AND DEMERITS OF MEDIAN

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THANK YOU

For queries contact: archana.e10375@cumail.in

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