Foundation Mathematics

Topic 7 – Lecture 2: Introduction to Statistics

Grouped Data
The Mode and Median Values

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.2

Scope and Coverage

This topic will cover:
• The importance of the modal value as a measure of
central tendency
• The importance of the median value as a measure of
central tendency

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.3

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this topic students will be able to:
• Understand the principles of the modal value
• Identify and calculate the modal value within a range of
data
• Understand the principles of the median value
• Identify and calculate the median value within a range of
data

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.4

The Mode
• A simple example of the mode is found in the
manufacture of shoes for men.
- In the UK the most common sizes for mens shoes are 8, 9, 10
- If you are a manufacturer of shoes it is important to know this
as it will help you to decide how many of a particular size to
manufacture.
- There is no point in manufacturing the same number of every
size from 1 – 15 as you will have too many of unpopular sizes
and not enough of those most commonly bought.

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.5

The Mode - Advantages

• Identification of the mode or modal value as it is
sometimes referred to provides us with a number of
advantages including:
- It is easy to find
- It is not influenced by a few extreme values ( a major problem
for the arithmetic mean)
- It can be used for data which are not even numerical
- It can be the value of an actual item in the distribution

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.6

The Mode - Disadvantages

- It may be unrepresentative as it takes no account of a high
proportion of the data only representing the most common
value
- It does not take every value into account
- There can be two or more modes in any data set
- If the modal class is only very slightly bigger than another
class it may result in a substantially different result suggesting
some instability in the measure.

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.7

The Mode - Frequency Distributions

• The organisation of data often requires us to arrange our figures using a range
such as 0 ≤ w<10, 10 ≤ w<20 etc. which represent a class interval. This
presents us with a problem in dealing with the mode as we are not given exact
figures only a class interval and a frequency
• Consider the data presented in the following table which represents the weight
of packages delivered to a warehouse over the period of a week
Weight (kgs) Frequency of observation

0 ≤w< 10 2
10 ≤w< 20 3
20 ≤w< 30 7
30 ≤w< 40 15
40 ≤w< 50 8
50 ≤w< 60 4
60 ≤w< 70 1
Total Frequency 40

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.8

Identifying the Mode using the Formula

• The formula can only be applied when the class intervals above and below
the modal class are of the same width as the modal class.
• In our example all classes are of the same width, 0 ≤w<10, 10≤
w<20 etc.
• Our Formula for the mode is Mode = L + (Fm-Fb) X c
(2Fm-Fb)-Fn
- Where L = lower class limit of modal class
- Fm = Frequency of modal class
- Fb = Frequency of the class below the modal class
- Fn = Frequency of next class after modal class
- c = class interval

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.9

Applying the Mode Formula - 1

• From our table we can see that our modal class is within
the range 30≤w<40 as this has the highest frequency of
observation
Weight (KGs) Frequency of
observation
0 ≤w< 10 2
10 ≤w< 20 3
20 ≤w< 30 7
Most frequent observation
30 ≤w< 40 15
40 ≤w< 50 8
50 ≤w< 60 4
60 ≤w< 70 1
Total 40
Frequency

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.10

Applying the Mode Formula - 2

• By adding values to our formula we get

(15  7)  10
30 +
((2  15)  7)  8

80
30 (+30  7)  8

= 30 + 5.33

= 35.33 kg
•As can be seen the modal value is a decimal value within the class
interval 30≤w<40

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.11

The Median
• The median is the middle value or the value that splits a data
set into two equal parts.
• When trying to identify the median the first step is to place
the data in a data set into ascending order.
• So for the data below...
- 3,1,5,4,6,7,8,6,9 - Unordered data
- 1,3,4,5,6,6,7,8,9 - Ordered data
• Once the data has been arranged the middle value, the value
that splits the data set into two, needs to be identified. A
simple formula can be used to identify this value.

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.12

The Median - Identification

• Once the data has been arranged, the middle value, the value
that splits the data set into two needs to be identified. A
simple formula can be used to identify this value.

(n  1)
2
• Where n is the size of the data set.
• So for the data 1,3,4,5,6,6,7,8,9
• The median value is (9+1)/ 2 = 5, which is the fifth value.
And so the median is 6.

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.13

The Median – Even Number Distributions

• It is easy to obtain the median with an odd number of
observations in a data set.
• Look at the following data set (already ordered);
- 1,4,5,6,8,11,12,13,15,18
• Applying the formula for identifying the median (10 + 1) /2, the
median is the 5 1/2 value - a value that lies between 5th and 6th
value.
• Where this problem occurs you need to take the two values either
side of this middle value, in this case 8 and 11. This produces a
median of 9.5 for the data set above.

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.14

The Median – Advantages/Disadvantages

• Advantages:
- The median is easy to understand
- It is unaffected by extremely high or low values within a data
set
- It can be the value of an actual item in the distribution
• Disadvantages:
- It is only of interest where there is a range of values and the
middle item is of some significance
- It fails to reflect the full range of values
- It is unsuitable for further statistical analysis
- Arranging data in order of size can be tedious

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.15

Identifying the Median – Frequency Distributions

• In identifying the median we use a similar method to the approach
taken in identifying the mode.
• Data presented as a frequency table is first constructed. However,
for calculating the median we include a column for cumulative
frequency
Weight Frequency of Cumulative
observation Frequency
(KGs)
0 ≤w< 10 2 2
10 ≤w< 20 3 5
20 ≤w< 30 7 12
30 ≤w< 40 15 27
40 ≤w< 50 8 35
50 ≤w< 60 4 39
60 ≤w< 70 1 40
Total Frequency 40

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.16

Identifying the Median – Applying the Formula

• To identify the median from the frequency table we apply the
following formula
n
 C med
Median = L med + W med x 2
f med

Where:
-L med = Lower limit of median interval
-f med = frequency of median interval
-W med = Width of the median class
-C med = cumulative frequency for previous interval
-n = total frequency

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.17

Identifying the Median - Calculation

• To calculate the median from our data set
Weight Frequency of observation Cumulative Frequency

(kgs)
0 ≤w< 10 2 2
10 ≤w< 20 3 5
20 ≤w< 30 7 12
30 ≤w< 40 15 27
40 ≤w< 50 8 35
50 ≤w< 60 4 39
60 ≤w< 70 1 40
Total Frequency 40

• We can now insert values to our formula

40
(  12)
Median = 30+10 2
15
10(8)
= 30 + 15= 35.33 kgs

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 Introduction to Statistics Topic 7 - 2.18

Topic 7 – Introduction to Statistics

Any Questions?

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