Chapter 2

Descriptive Statistics
Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 2
§ 2.1
Frequency
Distributions and
Their Graphs
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Construct a frequency distribution that includes classes, frequencies, midpoints, relative frequencies, and cumulative frequencies.
2. Construct frequency histograms, frequency polygons, relative frequency histograms, and ogives.

Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 4

 Frequency Distributions
A frequency distribution is a table that shows classes or
intervals of data with a count of the number in each class. The
frequency f of a class is the number of data points in the class.

Class Frequency, f
1–4 4
Upper Class
Lower 5–8 5
Limits 9 – 12 3 Frequencies
13 – 16 4
17 – 20 2

Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 5

 Frequency Distributions
The class width is the distance between lower (or upper) limits of
consecutive classes.

Class Frequency, f
1–4 4
5–1=4 5–8 5
9–5=4 9 – 12 3
13 – 9 = 4 13 – 16 4
17 – 13 = 4 17 – 20 2
The class width is 4.

The range is the difference between the maximum and minimum

data entries.
Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 6
 Constructing a Frequency Distribution
Guidelines
1. Decide on the number of classes to include. The number of classes
should be between 5 and 20; otherwise, it may be difficult to detect any
patterns.
2. Find the class width as follows. Determine the range of the data, divide
the range by the number of classes, and round up to the next convenient
number.
3. Find the class limits. You can use the minimum entry as the lower limit
of the first class. To find the remaining lower limits, add the class width
to the lower limit of the preceding class. Then find the upper class
limits.
4. Make a tally mark for each data entry in the row of the appropriate class.
5. Count the tally marks to find the total frequency f for each class.

Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 7

 Constructing a Frequency Distribution
Example:
The following data represents the ages of 30 students in a statistics
class. Construct a frequency distribution that has five classes.

Ages of Students
18 20 21 27 29 20
19 30 32 19 34 19
24 29 18 37 38 22
30 39 32 44 33 46
54 49 18 51 21 21
Continued.
Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 8
 Constructing a Frequency Distribution
Example continued:

1. The number of classes (5) is stated in the problem.

2. The minimum data entry is 18 and maximum entry is 54, so the

range is 36. Divide the range by the number of classes to find
the class width.

Class width = 36 = 7.2 Round up to 8.

5

Continued.
Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 9
 Constructing a Frequency Distribution
Example continued:
3. The minimum data entry of 18 may be used for the lower limit of
the first class. To find the lower class limits of the remaining
classes, add the width (8) to each lower limit.

The lower class limits are 18, 26, 34, 42, and 50.
The upper class limits are 25, 33, 41, 49, and 57.
4. Make a tally mark for each data entry in the appropriate class.

5. The number of tally marks for a class is the frequency for that
class.
Continued.
Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 10
 Constructing a Frequency Distribution
Example continued:
Number of
Ages students
Ages of Students
Class Tally Frequency, f
18 – 25 13
26 – 33 8
34 – 41 4
42 – 49 3
Check that the
50 – 57 2 sum equals the
number in the
 f  30
sample.

Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 11

 Midpoint
The midpoint of a class is the sum of the lower and upper limits
of the class divided by two. The midpoint is sometimes called the
class mark.

Midpoint = (Lower class limit) + (Upper class limit)

2

Class Frequency, f Midpoint

1–4 4 2.5

Midpoint = 1  4  5  2.5
2 2

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 Midpoint
Example:
Find the midpoints for the “Ages of Students” frequency
distribution.
Ages of Students
Class Frequency, f Midpoint
18 + 25 = 43
18 – 25 13 21.5
43  2 = 21.5
26 – 33 8 29.5
34 – 41 4 37.5
42 – 49 3 45.5
50 – 57 2 53.5
 f  30
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 Relative Frequency
The relative frequency of a class is the portion or percentage of
the data that falls in that class. To find the relative frequency of a
class, divide the frequency f by the sample size n.

Class frequency f
Relative frequency = 
Sample size n

Relative
Class Frequency, f
Frequency
1–4 4 0.222
 f  18
f 4  0.222
Relative frequency  
n 18
Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 14
 Relative Frequency
Example:
Find the relative frequencies for the “Ages of Students” frequency
distribution.

Relative Portion of
Class Frequency, f Frequency students
18 – 25 13 0.433 f 13

26 – 33 8 0.267 n 30
34 – 41 4 0.133  0.433
42 – 49 3 0.1
50 – 57 2 0.067
f
 f  30  1
n
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 Cumulative Frequency
The cumulative frequency of a class is the sum of the frequency
for that class and all the previous classes.

Ages of Students
Cumulative
Class Frequency, f Frequency
18 – 25 13 13
26 – 33 +8 21
34 – 41 +4 25
42 – 49 + 3 28
Total number of
50 – 57 + 2 30 students
 f  30

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 Frequency Histogram
A frequency histogram is a bar graph that represents the
frequency distribution of a data set.
1. The horizontal scale is quantitative and measures the data
values.
2. The vertical scale measures the frequencies of the classes.
3. Consecutive bars must touch.

Class boundaries are the numbers that separate the classes

without forming gaps between them.
The horizontal scale of a histogram can be marked with either the
class boundaries or the midpoints.
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 Class Boundaries
Example:
Find the class boundaries for the “Ages of Students” frequency
distribution.
Ages of Students
Class
Class Frequency, f Boundaries
The distance from the 18 – 25 13 17.5  25.5
upper limit of the first
class to the lower limit 26 – 33 8 25.5  33.5
of the second class is 1. 34 – 41 4 33.5  41.5
42 – 49 3 41.5  49.5
Half this distance 50 – 57 2 49.5  57.5
is 0.5.
 f  30

Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 18

 Frequency Histogram
Example:
Draw a frequency histogram for the “Ages of Students” frequency distribution. Use the class boundaries.

14 13 Ages of Students
12
10
8
8

f 6
4
4 3
2 2

0
17.5 25.5 33.5 41.5 49.5 57.5
Broken axis
Age (in years)
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 Frequency Polygon
A frequency polygon is a line graph that emphasizes the continuous change in frequencies.

14
Ages of Students
12
10
8 Line is extended to
the x-axis.
f 6
4
2
0
13.5 21.5 29.5 37.5 45.5 53.5 61.5
Broken axis
Age (in years) Midpoints

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 Relative Frequency Histogram
A relative frequency histogram has the same shape and the
same horizontal scale as the corresponding frequency histogram.

0.5
0.433
(portion of students)

Ages of Students
Relative frequency

0.4

0.3
0.267
0.2
0.133
0.1
0.1 0.067
0
17.5 25.5 33.5 41.5 49.5 57.5
Age (in years)
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 Cumulative Frequency Graph
A cumulative frequency graph or ogive, is a line graph that
displays the cumulative frequency of each class at its upper class
boundary.

30 Ages of Students
Cumulative frequency
(portion of students)

24

18
The graph ends at
the upper
12 boundary of the
last class.
6

0
17.5 25.5 33.5 41.5 49.5 57.5
Age (in years)
Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e 22