Module Overview

Purpose of this Module

The purpose of this module is to discuss the different measures of central

tendency which is the mean, median and the mode.

Measures of Central Tendency

A measure of central tendency is a single value that attempts to describe a set

of data by identifying the central position within that set of data. As such, measures of
central tendency are sometimes called measures of central location. They are also
classed as summary statistics.

Module guide

This module illustrate how to calculate each of the measures used in

getting the central tendency for ungrouped and grouped data.
Measures of central tendency both for sample grouped and
population grouped is also included in the discussion.

Module Outcome/s

After this learning module, students will be able to:

1. Learn the properties of mean, median and mode

2. Analyze and interpret the data presented in the table using measures
of central tendency
3. Articulate the importance of mathematics in one’s life.
4. Express appreciation for mathematics as a human endeavor.
5. Express appreciation for Mathematics as a human endeavor.

Module Requirements

By the end of this module, the students will submit the

following activities provided.
Course Pre-Assessment

Find the mean, the median, and the mode(s), if any, for the given data. Round non-
integer means to the nearest tenth.

1. 2, 7, 5, 7, 14
2. 8, 3, 3, 17, 9, 22, 19
3. 11, 8, 2, 5, 17, 39, 52, 42
4. 101, 88, 74, 60, 12, 94, 74, 85
5. 2.1, 4.6, 8.2, 3.4, 5.6, 8.0, 9.4, 12.2, 56.1, 78.2
6. 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
7. 255, 178, 192, 145, 202, 188, 178, 201
8. 118, 105, 110, 118, 134, 155, 166, 166, 118
9. -12, -8, -5, -5, -3, 0, 4, 9, 21
10. -8.5, -2.2, 4.1, 4.1, 6.4, 8.3, 9.7

Key Terms

Measures of Central Tendency - is a summary statistic that represents the center

point or typical value of a dataset.

Arithmetic Mean or Mean - The mean (or average) is the most popular and well-known
measure of central tendency. It can be used with both discrete
and continuous data, although its use is most often with continuous
data The mean is equal to the sum of all the values in the data set
divided by the number of values in the data set.

Median - is the middle number in a sorted, ascending or descending, list of

numbers and can be more descriptive of that data set than the
average. It is sometimes used as opposed to the mean when there
are outliers in the sequence that might skew the average of the
values.

Mode - is the most commonly observed value in a set of data

Weighted Mean - is a kind of average. Instead of each data point contributing

equally to the final mean, some data points contribute more
“weight” than others. If all the weights are equal, then the
weighted mean equals the arithmetic mean
Measures of Central Tendency
A. Mean - the arithmetic mean, often called as the mean, is the most frequently
used measures of central tendency. The mean is the only common measures in
which all values play an equal role, meaning, to determine its values, you would
need to consider all the values of any given data set. The mean is appropriate to
determine the central tendency of an interval or ratio data.

The symbol x , called “x bar” is used to represent the mean of a sample and the
symbol µ, called “mu”, is used to denote the mean of a population.

Properties of Mean:

1. A set of data has only one mean.

2. Mean can be applied for interval and ratio data.
3. All values in the data set are included in computing the mean.
4. The mean is very useful in comparing two or more data sets.
5. Mean is affected by the extreme small or large values on a data set.
6. Mean is most appropriate in symmetrical data.

Mean =
∑ of all values
number of values

Σx Σx
Sample Mean: x = Population Mean: µ =
n N

where: x = sample mean

µ = population mean
x = the value of any particular observation or
measurement.
Σx = sum of all x’s

n = total number of values in the sample.

N = total number of values in the population.

Example 1:
The daily salaries of a sample of eight employees at GSM Inc. are ₱550, ₱420,
₱560, ₱500, ₱700, ₱670, ₱860, ₱480. Find the mean daily rate of employees.
Solution:

Σx x 1+ x 2+ x 3+ x 4+ x 5+ x 6 + x 7+ x 8
x= =
n n

550+420+560+ 500+700+670+ 860+480

x=
8

469
x=
9

x = ₱592.50

The mean population age of middle-management employees is ₱592.50.

Example 2:
Find the population mean of the ages of 9 middle-management employees of a
certain company. The ages are 53, 45, 59, 48, 54, 46, 51, 58 and 55

Solution:

Σ x x 1+ x 2+ x 3+ x 4+ x 5+ x 6 + x 7+ x 8+ x 9
µ= =
N N

53+45+59+ 48+54 +46+ 51+ 58+55 469

µ= =
9 9

µ = 52.11

The mean population age of middle-management employees is 52.11

B. Median - the median is the midpoint of the data array. When the data set is
ordered, whether ascending or descending, it is called a data array. Median is an
appropriate measure of central tendency for data that are ordinal.

Properties of Median:

1. The median is unique, there is only one median for a set of data.
2. The median is found by arranging the set of data from lowest or highest
(or highest or lowest).
3. Median is not affected by the extreme small or large values.
4. Median can be applied for ordinal, interval, and ratio data.
 5. Median is most appropriate in a skewed data.

To determine the value of median for ungrouped, we need to consider two rules:

1. If n is odd, the median is the middle ranked.

2. If n is even, then the median is the average of the two middle ranked
values.

n+1
Median (Rank Value) =
2

Note that n is the population/sample size.

Example 1:
Find the median of the ages of 9 middle-management employees of a certain
company. The ages are 53, 45, 59, 48, 54, 46, 51, 58, and 55.

Solution:

Step 1: Arrange the data in order.

45, 46, 48, 51, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59

Step 2: Select the middle rank value.

n+1 9+1 10
Median (Rank Value) = = = =5
2 2 2

Step 3: Identify the median in the data set

45, 46, 48, 51, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59

5th
Hence, the median age is 53 years.

Example 2:
The daily rates of a sample of eight employees at GSM Inc. are ₱550, ₱420,
₱560, ₱500, ₱700, ₱670, ₱860, ₱480. Find the median daily rate of employee.

Solution:
Step 1: Arrange the data in order.
₱420, ₱480, ₱500, ₱550, ₱560, ₱670, ₱700, ₱860

Step 2: Select the middle rank value.

n+1 8+1 9
Median (Rank Value) = = = = 4.5
2 2 2
 Step 3: Identify the median in the data set
₱420, ₱480, ₱500, ₱550, ₱560, ₱670, ₱700, ₱860

4.5th

Since the middle point falls between ₱550 and ₱560, we can determine the median of
the data set by getting the average of the two values.

Therefore, the median daily rate is ₱555.

C. Mode - the mode is the value in a data set that appears most frequently. Like
the median and unlike the mean, extreme values in a data set do not affect the
mode. A data may not contain any mode if none of the values are “most typical”. A
data set that has only one value that occurs the greatest frequency is said to be
unimodal. If the data has two values with the same greatest frequency, both
values are considered the mode and the data set is bimodal. If the data set has
more than two modes, then the data set is said to be multimodal. There are some
cases when a data set values have the same number of frequency. When this
occurs, the data set is said to be no mode.

Properties of Mode:

1. The mode is found by locating the most frequently occurring value.

2. The mode is the easiest average to compute.
3. There can be more than one mode or even no mode in any given data set.
4. Mode is not affected by extreme values
5. Mode can be applied for nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio data.

Example 1:
The following data represent the total unit sales for smartphones from a
sample of 10 Communication Centers for the month of August 15, 17, 10, 12, 13, 10,
14, 10, 8, and 9. Find the mode.

Solution:
 The ordered array for these data is 8, 9, 10, 10 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17
 Because 10 appear 3 times, more times than the other values,
therefore the mode is 10.
 Example 2:
An operations manager in charge of a company’s manufacturing keeps track of
the number of manufactured LED television manufactured for the past three weeks:
20, 18, 19, 25, 20, 21, 20, 25, 30, 29, 28, 29, 25, 25, 27, 26, 22 and 20. Find the
mode of the given data set.

Solution:
 The ordered array for these data is 18, 19, 20, 20, 20, 20, 21, 22, 25,
25, 25, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 29, 30.
 There are two modes 20 and 25, since each of these values occurs four
times.
Example 3:
Find the mode of the ages of 9 middle-management employees of a certain
company. The ages are 53, 45, 59, 48, 54, 46, 51, 58, and 55.

Solution:
 The ordered array for these is 45, 46, 48, 51, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59.
 There is no mode since the data set has the same frequency.

D. Weighted Mean - is a particularly useful when various classes or groups

contribute differently to the total. The weighted mean is found by multiplying
each value by its corresponding weight and dividing by the sum of the weights.

x 1 w 1+ x 2 w 2+ x 3 w 3+… + xnwn
xw =
w 1+w 2+ w 3+…+ wn

Where: x = weighted mean

wi = corresponding weight
xi = the value of any particular observations or
measurement

Example 1:
At the Mathematics Department of San Sebastian College there are 18
instructors, 12 assistant professors, 7 associate professors and 3 professors. Their
monthly salaries are ₱30,500, ₱33,700, ₱38,600, and ₱45,000. What is the weighted
mean salary?
Solution:

Let w1 = 18 w2 = 12 w3 = 7 w4 = 3
x1 = 30,500 x2 = 33,700 x3 = 38,600 x4 = 45,000
 x 1 w 1+ x 2 w 2+ x 3 w 3+ x 4 w 4
xw =
w 1+ w 2+w 3+ w 4

30,500 (18 )+ 33,700 (12 )+38,600 ( 7 )+ 45,000(3)

xw =
18+12+7+ 3

1.088
xw =
40

x w ¿33,965

The weighted mean salary is ₱33,965

Example 2:
Riana’s first quarter grade is shown in the table below. Use the weighted
mean formula to find Riana’s GPA for the first quarter.

Subjects English Math Filipino Science P.E. Religion

Grade 90 87 88 93 95 96
Units 3 3 3 3 2 1

Solution:

Let w1 = 3 w2 = 3 w3 = 3 w4 =2 w5 = 1
x1 = 90 x2 = 87 x3 = 88 x4 = 95 x5 = 96

x 1 w 1+ x 2 w 2+ x 3 w 3+ x 4 w 4 + x 5 w 5
xw =
w 1+w 2+ w 3+w 4+ w5

90 ( 3 ) +87 ( 3 ) +88 ( 3 )+ 95 ( 2 )+ 96(1)

xw =
3+ 3+3+2+1

1,088
xw =
12

x w = 90.67

The weighted mean GPA is 90.67

Example 3:
A certain subdivision in Laguna consist of 50 homes. The table shows the
frequency distribution of homes with respect to the number of bedrooms it has. Find
the mean number of bedrooms for the 50 homes.
 No. of bedrooms 2 3 4 5 6
No. of homes 13 21 10 4 2

Solution:

Let w1 = 2 w2 = 3 w3 = 4 w4 =5 w5 = 6
x1 = 13 x2 = 21 x3 = 10 x4 = 4 x5 = 2

x 1 w 1+ x 2 w 2+ x 3 w 3+ x 4 w 4 + x 5 w 5
xw =
w 1+w 2+ w 3+w 4+ w5

2 ( 13 )+3 ( 21 ) + 4 ( 10 ) +5 ( 4 ) +6 (2)
xw =
13+21+10+ 4+ 2

161
xw =
50

x w = 3.22

The weighted mean of bedrooms per home is 3.22

References/Suggested Readings

BIBLIOGRAPHY Sirug, Winston S., Mathematics in the Modern World: CHED Curriculum Compliant

Hengania, Catherine O., Et.Al., Mathematics in the Modern World

Jamison R.E., (2000).Learning the Language of Mathematics. Language and Learning

Across the Discipline (45-54).

Post Assessment:

Solve the following problems.

1. Six friends in a biology class of 20 students received test grades of 92, 84,
65, 76, 88, and 90. Find the mean of these test scores.
 2. Find the median for the data in the following lists.
a. 4, 8, 1, 14, 9, 21, 12
b. 46, 23, 92, 89, 77, 108

3. Find the mode for the data in the following lists.

a. 18, 15, 21, 16, 15, 14, 15, 21
b. 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 4, 7, 23

4. Table shows Dave’s semester course grades. Use the weighted mean formula
to find Dave’s GPA for the semester.

Name:__________________________________Year/Section_________Score________

Write your answers here!