Chapter 3:

Measures of Central Tendency

Measures of central tendency, or "location", attempt to quantify what we mean when
we think of as the "typical" or "average" score in a data set. The concept is extremely
important and we encounter it frequently in daily life. For example, we often want to
know before purchasing a car its average distance per litre of petrol. Or before
accepting a job, you might want to know what a typical salary is for people in that
position so you will know whether or not you are going to be paid what you are
worth.. Answers to such a question tell us a lot about the phenomenon or process we
are studying.

3.1 Ungrouped Data

1. Mean


x
 Mean for population data:
N

 Mean for sample data: x

x
n

where: x = the sum af all values

N = the population size
n = the sample size,
µ = the population mean
x = the sample mean

Example 1:

The following data give the prices (rounded to thousand RM) of five homes sold
recently in Sekayang.

158 189 265 127 191

Find the mean sale price for these homes.

Solution: (ans:186)

1
 2. Weighted Mean

 Used when have different needs.

 Weight mean :

xw 
 wx
w
where w is a weight.

Example 2:

Consider the data of electricity components purchasing from a factory in the table
below. Find the mean cost of the component.

Type Number of component (w) Cost/unit (x)

1 1200 RM3.00
2 500 RM3.40
3 2500 RM2.80
4 1000 RM2.90
5 800 RM3.25
Total 6000

Solution: (ans: RM 2.967)

2
 3. Median

 Median is the value of the middle term in a data set that has been ranked in
increasing order.
 Procedure for finding the Median
Step 1: Rank the data set in increasing order.

Step 2: Determine the depth (position or location) of the median.

n 1
Depth of Median =
2

Step 3: Determine the value of the Median.

Example 3:

Find the median for the following data:

10 5 19 8 3

Solution: (ans:8)

Example 4:

Find the median for the following data:

10 5 19 8 3 15

Solution: (ans:9)

 The median gives the centre of a histogram, with half of the data values to the
left of (or, less than) the median and half to the right of (or, more than) the
median.
 The advantage of using the median is that it is not influenced by outliers.

3
4. Mode

 Mode is the value that occurs with the highest frequency in a data set.

 A major shortcoming of the mode is that a data set may have none or may
have more than one mode.
 One advantage of the mode is that it can be calculated for both kinds of data,
quantitative and qualitative.

Example 5:

1. What is the mode for given data?

77 69 74 81 71 68 74 73

2. What is the mode for given data?

77 69 68 74 81 71 68 74 73

Solution:

4
3.2 Grouped Data

1. Mean

 Mean for population data: μ=

 fx
N

 Mean for sample data: x=  fx

n

Where x the midpoint and f is the frequency of a class.

Example 6:

The following table gives the frequency distribution of the number of orders received
each day during the past 50 days at the office of a mail-order company. Calculate the
mean.

Number of order f

10 – 12 4
13 – 15 12
16 – 18 20
19 – 21 14

n = 50

Solution: (16.64)

5
 1. Median

Step 1: Construct the cumulative frequency distribution.

Step 2: Decide the class that contain the median.

Class Median is the first class with the value of cumulative frequency is at
least n/2.
Step 3: Find the median by using the following formula:

 n 
 2 -F 
Median = Lm + i
 fm 
 
Where:
n = the total frequency
F = the total frequency before class median
i = the class width
Lm = the lower boundary of the class median
fm = the frequency of the class median

Example 7:

Based on the grouped data below, find the median:

Time to travel to work Frequency

1 – 10 8
11 – 20 14
21 – 30 12
31 – 40 9
41 – 50 7

Solution: (ans:23)

6
 2. Mode

 Mode is the value that has the highest frequency in a data set.
 For grouped data, class mode (or, modal class) is the class with the highest
frequency.
 To find mode for grouped data, use the following formula:

 Δ1 
Mode = Lmo +  i
Δ
 1 + Δ2 

Where:

Lmo is the lower boundary of class mode

is the difference between the frequency of class mode and the

1 frequency of the class before the class mode

is the difference between the frequency of class mode and the

2 frequency of the class after the class mode

i is the class width

Example 8:

Based on the grouped data below, find the mode

Time to travel to work Frequency

1 – 10 8
11 – 20 14
21 – 30 12
31 – 40 9
41 – 50 7

Solution: (17.5)

7
3.3 Relationship among mean, median & mode

 As discussed in previous topic, histogram or a frequency distribution

curve can assume either skewed shape or symmetrical shape.

 Knowing the value of mean, median and mode can give us some idea
about the shape of frequency curve.

 For a symmetrical histogram and frequency curve with one peak, the
value of the mean, median and mode are identical and they lie at the
center of the distribution.(Figure 3.1)

Figure 3.1: Mean, median, and mode

for a symmetric histogram and
frequency distribution curve

 For a histogram and a frequency curve skewed to the right, the value of the
mean is the largest that of the mode is the smallest and the value of the median
lies between these two.

Figure 3.2: Mean, median, and

mode for a histogram and
frequency distribution curve
skewed to the right.

8
 For a histogram and a frequency curve skewed to the left, the value of
the mean is the smallest and that of the mode is the largest and the value
of the median lies between these two.

Figure 3.3: Mean, median, and mode for a histogram and

frequency distribution curve skewed to the left