CHAPTER 3

CLASSIFICATION AND TABULATION

Study Notes

Classification

Classification is the process of grouping data according to some

characteristics. There are four types of classification.

a) Qualitative classification

b) Quantitative classification

c) Chronological classification

d) Geographical classification

Qualitative classification

Classification based on qualitative characteristics like sex, religion, colour

etc is called qualitative classification.

Quantitative classification

Classification based on characteristics which are numerically measured is

called quantitative classification. Classification based on height, weight, area

etc. are examples of quantitative classification.

Chronological classification

Classification based on units of time like year, month, week, hour, etc. is

called chronological classification.

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Geographical Classification

Classification based on geographical regions like continents, countries,

states, districts, villages etc. is called geographical classification.

Tabulation

The method of representing data with the help of tables is called

tabulation of data. It is the way of systematic summarisation and presentation

of information contained in the given data in rows and columns.

Objectives of classification and tabulation

1. To simplifies the complex data.

2. To facilitate comparison

3. To facilitate statistical analysis.

4. To save time, space and energy.

5. To clarify similarity and dissimilarity.

6. To arrange data logically and scientifically.

7. To grasp the information.

One way and Two way classification

The classification based on only one characteristic at a time is called one

way classification. Eg:- The classification of higher secondary students

according to their stream of study – Humanities, Commerce and Science. Here

only one characteristic is considered at a time. The table obtained in one way

classification is called one way table.

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 Stream No. of
students
Humanities
Commerce
Science
Total

The classification based on two characteristics at a time is called two way

classification. Eg:- The classification of higher secondary students based on

their stream of study (Humanities, Commerce, Science) and their religion

(Hindu, Christian, Muslim). The table used to represent a two way classification

is called a two way table.

Religion
Stream Total
Hindu Christian Muslim
Humanities
Commerce
Science
Total
Classification and tabulation can be done by considering more than two

characteristics also.

Parts of a table

Usually a table the following 8 parts.

1. Table Number 2. Title of the table

3. Captions 4. Stubs

5. Body 6. Head Note

7. Foot Note 8. Source Note

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 Table No.
Title.
Head Note:
Caption
Stubs B1 B2 ... ... ... Bn

A1
A2
...
...
... Body
Am
Foot Note:
Source Note:

Classification according to Attributes

Attributes are qualitative characteristics like sex, literacy, religion,

education etc. which cannot be numerically measured. Attributes can be find by

their presence or absence. Eg:- If we are dealing with the problem of blindness,

we can only find out whether the individual is blind or not blind. In this case the

attribute divide the population into two – one in which the attribute is present

and the other in which the attribute is not present. Also these two parts of the

population are not overlapping. They are mutually exclusive. This type of

classification is called dichotomy or two fold classification.

We can also consider more than one attributes at a time. For example –

classification can be done according to attributes like Blindness (blind or not

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blind), Sex (male or female) etc. at a time. Such classification in which more

than one attribute is taken into account is called manifold classification.

Population

Blind Not blind

Two fold classification.

Population

Blind Not blind

Male Female Male Female

Manifold Classification

Frequency Tables

The number of repetition of a particular observation in a data is called the

frequency of the observation. A table used for arranging the data using

frequency of the observations is called a frequency table. There are two types

of frequency tables – Discrete frequency table and Continuous frequency table.

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Discrete frequency table

A discrete frequency table is used if the data is presented in a way that

exact measurements of units are clearly shown. It is prepared by arranging the

observations in one column and their frequencies in another column.

Eg:- Prepare the frequency table for the data given below.

4 2 3 2 6 4 3 2 7 3 4 4

3 3 2 1 5 2 1 5 2 3 2 5

4 0 3 2 1 4 3 5 1 1 3

Ans

Here the data is discrete. So we can prepare a discrete frequency table.

Values Tally Marks Frequency

0 | 1

1 |||| 5

2 |||| ||| 8

3 |||| |||| 9

4 |||| | 6

5 |||| 4

6 | 1

7 | 1

Total 35

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Continuous frequency table

Continuous frequency tables are prepared using classes and frequency of

the classes. This type of frequency table is used for a data with a large number

of distinct observations or the data is continuous. Here the observations are

grouped first and then the frequencies of the groups are determined for the

preparation of the frequency table. Such groups are called classes. A class has a

lower limit and an upper limit. The difference between upper limit and lower

limit is called the width of the class or size of the class or class interval.

Suppose 10 – 20 is a class. Then 10 is the lower limit and 20 is the upper limit of

the class. Also the width of the class is 20 – 10 = 10.

There are two types of classes. Inclusive type classes and Exclusive type

classes. An inclusive type class includes all items between the lower limit and

the upper limits including the limits. Eg:- Suppose 0 – 9 is an inclusive type

class. Then all values between 0 and 9 including 0 and 9 are in the class.

In exclusive type classes, the upper limit of the class is not included in the class.

Eg:- Suppose 0 – 10 is an exclusive type class. Then this class includes all values

between 0 and 10. But the upper limit 10 is excluded from the class.

Eg:- The marks obtained by 40 students in a class are given below. Prepare a

frequency tables using inclusive type classes and exclusive type classes.

36 46 58 65 68 78 57 68 43 23
45 58 12 71 36 55 61 58 23 34
25 17 61 70 56 43 59 40 14 39
60 41 56 65 33 29 58 32 45 67

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Ans

There are a large number of distinct values in this data. So we can use a

continuous frequency table.

The smallest value in the data is 12 and the largest value is 78. So the

first class should start from 12 or a lower value (say 10 or 11) and the last class

ends after 78 (say 79 or 80).

First we can prepare the frequency table with inclusive type classes.

Let the classes be 11 – 20, 21 – 30, 31 – 40, 41 – 50, 51 – 60, 61 – 70 and

71 – 80.

Marks Tally Mark Frequency

11 – 20 ||| 3

21 – 30 |||| 4

31 – 40 |||| || 7

41 – 50 |||| | 6

51 – 60 |||| |||| 10

61 – 70 |||| ||| 8

71 – 80 || 2

Total 40

Now we can prepare the frequency table with exclusive classes. Let the

classes be 10 – 20, 20 – 30, 30 – 40, 40 – 50, 50 – 60, 60 – 70, 70 – 80.

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 Marks Tally Marks Frequency

10 – 20 ||| 3

20 – 30 |||| 4

30 – 40 |||| | 6

40 – 50 |||| || 7

50 – 60 |||| |||| 9

60 – 70 |||| ||| 8

70 – 80 ||| 3

Total 40
Relative frequency tables

Frequency
Relative frequency = Total frequency

The table representing relative frequencies of observations is called relative

frequency table.

Eg:-

Values Frequency Relative Frequency

0 2 2/50 = 0.04

1 7 7/50 = 0.14

2 10 10/50 = 0.2

3 12 12/50 = 0.24

4 8 8/50 = 0.16

5 6 6/50 = 0.12

6 3 3/50 = 0.06

7 2 2/50 = 0.04

Total 50 1
Note: The total of the relative frequencies is always 1.

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Percentage frequency table

In percentage frequency table we represent the frequencies of each

observations by their percentages.

Frequency
Percentage frequency = Total frequency X 100

Note: 1. Percentage frequency = Relative frequency X 100

2. Total of the percentage frequencies = 100

Eg:-

Values Frequency Percentage Frequency

0 2 2/50 X 100 = 4

1 7 7/50 X 100= 14

2 10 10/50 X 100 = 20

3 12 12/50 X 100= 24

4 8 8/50 X 100 = 16

5 6 6/50 X 100 = 12

6 3 3/50 X 100 = 6

7 2 2/50 X 100 = 4

Total 50 100

Cumulative frequency tables

Frequency tables obtained by the successive addition or subtraction of

frequencies are called cumulative frequency tables. There are two types of

cumulative frequency tables – Less than cumulative frequency table and

Greater than (more than) cumulative frequency table. Less than cumulative

frequency of an observation is the number or observations less than or equal to

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that particular observation. Greater than cumulative frequency of an

observation is the number of observations greater than or equal to that

particular observation.

Eg 1:- Less than cumulative frequency table

Values Frequency Less than cumulative frequency

0 2 2 (2 values are less than or equal to 0)

1 7 2+7=9 (9 values are less than or equal to 1)

2 10 9+10 = 19

3 12 19+12 = 31

4 8 31+8 = 39

5 6 39+6 = 45

6 3 45+3 = 48

7 2 48+2 = 50

Total 50

Greater than cumulative frequency table

Values Frequency Greater than cumulative frequency

0 2 50 (50 values are greater than or equal to 0)

1 7 50-2=48 (48 values are greater than or equal to 1)

2 10 48-7 = 41

3 12 41-10 = 31

4 8 31-12 = 19

5 6 19-8 = 11

6 3 11-6 = 5

7 2 5-3 = 2

Total 50

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Eg 2:- Less than cumulative frequency table

Marks Frequency Upper bound Less than cumulative frequency

10 – 20 3 20 3 (3 values are less than or equal to 20)

20 – 30 4 30 3+4=7 (7 values are less than or equal to 30)

30 – 40 6 40 7+6 = 13

40 – 50 7 50 13+7 = 20

50 – 60 9 60 20+9 = 29

60 – 70 8 70 29+8 = 37

70 – 80 3 80 37+3 = 40

Total 40

Greater than cumulative frequency table

Marks Frequency Lower bound Greater than cumulative frequency

10 – 20 3 10 40 (40 values are greater than or equal to 10)

20 – 30 4 20 40-3=37 (37 values are greater than or equal to 20)

30 – 40 6 30 37-4 = 33

40 – 50 7 40 33-6 = 27

50 – 60 9 50 27-7 = 20

60 – 70 8 60 20-9 = 11

70 – 80 3 70 11-8 = 3

Total 40

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Bivariate Frequency Distribution (Avoided from the focus area due to covid 19 situation)

Bivariate frequency table is used for a bivariate data. In a bivariate data

two characteristics are measured simultaneously. For example, if we are

measuring the height and weight of a persons in a group simultaneously, we get

a bivariate data, Let us examine how we can prepare a bivariate frequency

table by an example.

Eg:- The amount spent for advertisement(in Lakhs) and the profit (in Crores)

of a company for different months are given below. Prepare a bivariate

frequency table.

(1,13), (3,15), (2,16) (6,17) (13,23) (12,24) (17,25) (11,19) (15,23) (18,27)

(19,28) (18,24) (16,16) (13,27) (7,15) (8,19) (3,14) (4,17) (7,21) (19,33)

(16,35) (17,27) (10,21) (11,17) (10,16) (13,19) (11,18) (12,19) (14,21)

(16,25) (19,24) (20,23)

Ans

Here two characteristics are considered at a time – Advertisement

expense and Profit. First we have to form appropriate classes for the two

variables. For advertisement, the classes are 0 – 5, 5 – 10, 10 – 15, 15 – 20, 20

– 25 and for profit the classes are 10 – 15, 15 – 20, 20 – 25, 25 – 30, 30 – 35, 35

– 40.

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 Ad. expense
0–5 5 – 10 10 – 15 15 – 20 20 – 25 Total
Profit
||
10 – 15 2
2
||| ||| |||| | |
15 – 20 13
3 3 6 1
| |||| || |
20 – 25 8
1 4 2 1
| |||| |
25 – 30 7
1 6
|
30 – 35 1
1
|
35 – 40 1
1

Total 5 4 11 11 1 32

Advantages of Tabulation

1. Tables consolidate the data

2. A table present the data in a simple and systematic form.
3. Tables reveals the association of a variable or attribute with the other.
4. Comparison of one factor with the other becomes easy and reliable.
5. Diagramatic and graphical presentation of data becomes simple and accurate
. with the help of tables.
6. Tables portray more information in less space. 7. Tables saves time.
8. Tables are the basis of statistical calculations and analysis of data.
9. Tables make interpretation of data easier and better as compared to raw
data.

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