Chapter 2

Descriptive Statistics

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 Chapter Outline

• 2.1 Frequency Distributions and Their Graphs

• 2.2 More Graphs and Displays

• 2.3 Measures of Central Tendency

• 2.4 Measures of Variation

• 2.5 Measures of Position

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 Section 2.1

Frequency Distributions
and Their Graphs

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 Section 2.1 Objectives

• How to construct a frequency distribution including

limits, midpoints, relative frequencies, cumulative
frequencies, and boundaries
• How to construct frequency histograms, frequency
polygons, relative frequency histograms, and ogives

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 Frequency Distribution

Frequency Distribution Class Frequency, f

• A table that shows Class width
1–5 5
classes or intervals of 6 – 1 = 5
6 – 10 8
data with a count of the
number of entries in each 11 – 15 6
class. 16 – 20 8
• The frequency, f, of a 21 – 25 5
class is the number of 26 – 30 4
data entries in the class. Lower class Upper class
limits limits

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 Constructing a Frequency Distribution

1. Decide on the number of classes.

 Usually between 5 and 20; otherwise, it may be
difficult to detect any patterns.
2. Find the class width.
 Determine the range of the data.
 Divide the range by the number of classes.
 Round up to the next convenient number.

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 Constructing a Frequency Distribution
3. Find the class limits.
 You can use the minimum data entry as the lower
limit of the first class.
 Find the remaining lower limits (add the class
width to the lower limit of the preceding class).
 Find the upper limit of the first class. Remember
that classes cannot overlap.
 Find the remaining upper class limits.

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 Constructing a Frequency Distribution

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.

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 Example: Constructing a Frequency
Distribution
The following sample data set lists the prices (in dollars)
of 30 portable global positioning system (GPS)
navigators. Construct a frequency distribution that has
seven classes.
90 130 400 200 350 70 325 250 150 250
275 270 150 130 59 200 160 450 300 130
220 100 200 400 200 250 95 180 170 150

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 Solution: Constructing a Frequency
Distribution
90 130 400 200 350 70 325 250 150 250
275 270 150 130 59 200 160 450 300 130
220 100 200 400 200 250 95 180 170 150
1. Number of classes = 7 (given)
2. Find the class width
max  min 450  59 391
   55.86
#classes 7 7
Round up to 56

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 Solution: Constructing a Frequency
Distribution

3. Use 59 (minimum value) Lower Upper

as first lower limit. Add limit limit
the class width of 56 to Class 59
get the lower limit of the width = 56 115
next class. 171
59 + 56 = 115 227
Find the remaining 283
lower limits. 339
395

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 Solution: Constructing a Frequency
Distribution
The upper limit of the first Lower Upper
class is 114 (one less than limit limit
the lower limit of the 59 114 Class
second class). width = 56
115 170
Add the class width of 56 171 226
to get the upper limit of
227 282
the next class.
283 338
114 + 56 = 170 339 394
Find the remaining upper 395 450
limits.
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 Solution: Constructing a Frequency
Distribution
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.
Class Tally Frequency,
f
59 – 114 IIII 5
115 – 170 IIII III 8
171 – 226 IIII I 6
227 – 282 IIII 5
283 – 338 II 2
339 – 394 I 1
395 – 450 III 3
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 Determining the Midpoint

Midpoint of a class
(Lower class limit)  (Upper class limit)
2

Class Midpoint Frequency, f

59  114
59 – 114  86.5 5
2
115  170
Class width = 56
115 – 170  142.5 8
2
171  226
171 – 226  198.5 6
2

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 Determining the Relative Frequency
Relative Frequency of a class
• Portion or percentage of the data that falls in a
particular class.
class frequency f
• relative frequency  
Sample size n

Class Frequency, f Relative Frequency

5
59 – 114 5  0.17
30
8
115 – 170 8  0.27
30
6
171 – 226 6  0.2
30

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 Determining the Cumulative Frequency

Cumulative frequency of a class

• The sum of the frequency for that class and all previous
classes.

Class Frequency, f Cumulative frequency

59 – 114 5 6

115 – 170 + 8 13

171 – 226 + 6 19

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 Expanded Frequency Distribution

Relative Cumulative
Class Frequency, f Midpoint frequency frequency
59 – 114 5 86.5 0.17 5
115 – 170 8 142.5 0.27 13
171 – 226 6 198.5 0.2 19
227 – 282 5 254.5 0.17 24
283 – 338 2 310.5 0.07 26
339 – 394 1 366.5 0.03 27
395 – 450 3 422.5 0.1 30
Σf = 30 f
 1
n

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 Graphs of Frequency Distributions

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

frequency data values

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 Class Boundaries
Class boundaries
• The numbers that separate classes without forming
gaps between them.
• The distance from the upper
Class Frequency,
limit of the first class to the Class Boundaries f
lower limit of the second 59 – 114 58.5 – 114.5 5
class is 115 – 114 = 1. 115 – 170 8
• Half this distance is 0.5. 171 – 226 6

• First class lower boundary = 59 – 0.5 = 58.5

• First class upper boundary = 114 + 0.5 = 114.5
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 Class Boundaries

Class Frequency,
Class boundaries f
59 – 114 58.5 – 114.5 5
115 – 170 114.5 – 170.5 8
171 – 226 170.5 – 226.5 6
227 – 282 226.5 – 282.5 5
283 – 338 282.5 – 338.5 2
339 – 394 338.5 – 394.5 1
395 – 450 394.5 – 450.5 3

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 Example: Frequency Histogram

Construct a frequency histogram for the global

positioning system (GPS) navigators.

Class Frequency,
Class boundaries Midpoint f
59 – 114 58.5 – 114.5 86.5 5
115 – 170 114.5 – 170.5 142.5 8
171 – 226 170.5 – 226.5 198.5 6
227 – 282 226.5 – 282.5 254.5 5
283 – 338 282.5 – 338.5 310.5 2
339 – 394 338.5 – 394.5 366.5 1
395 – 450 394.5 – 450.5 422.5 3

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Solution: Frequency Histogram
(using Midpoints)

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 Solution: Frequency Histogram
(using class boundaries)

You can see that more than half of the GPS navigators are
priced below $226.50.

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 Graphs of Frequency Distributions

Frequency Polygon
• A line graph that emphasizes the continuous change in
frequencies.

frequency
data values

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 Example: Frequency Polygon

Construct a frequency polygon for the GPS navigators

frequency distribution.

Class Midpoint Frequency, f

59 – 114 86.5 5
115 – 170 142.5 8
171 – 226 198.5 6
227 – 282 254.5 5
283 – 338 310.5 2
339 – 394 366.5 1
395 – 450 422.5 3

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 Solution: Frequency Polygon

The graph should

begin and end on the
horizontal axis, so
extend the left side to
one class width before
the first class
midpoint and extend
the right side to one
class width after the
last class midpoint.

You can see that the frequency of GPS navigators increases

up to $142.50 and then decreases.

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 Graphs of Frequency Distributions

Relative Frequency Histogram

• Has the same shape and the same horizontal scale as
the corresponding frequency histogram.
• The vertical scale measures the relative frequencies,
not frequencies.

frequency
relative data values

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Example: Relative Frequency Histogram

Construct a relative frequency histogram for the GPS

navigators frequency distribution.
Class Frequency, Relative
Class boundaries f frequency
59 – 114 58.5 – 114.5 86.5 0.17
115 – 170 114.5 – 170.5 142.5 0.27
171 – 226 170.5 – 226.5 198.5 0.2
227 – 282 226.5 – 282.5 254.5 0.17
283 – 338 282.5 – 338.5 310.5 0.07
339 – 394 338.5 – 394.5 366.5 0.03
395 – 450 394.5 – 450.5 422.5 0.1

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Solution: Relative Frequency Histogram

6.5 18.5 30.5 42.5 54.5 66.5 78.5 90.5

From this graph you can see that 20% of GPS navigators are
priced between $114.50 and $170.50.
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 Graphs of Frequency Distributions

Cumulative Frequency Graph or Ogive

• A line graph that displays the cumulative frequency of
each class at its upper class boundary.
• The upper boundaries are marked on the horizontal
axis.
• The cumulative frequencies are marked on the vertical
axis.

cumulative
frequency
data values
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 Constructing an Ogive

1. Construct a frequency distribution that includes

cumulative frequencies as one of the columns.
2. Specify the horizontal and vertical scales.
 The horizontal scale consists of the upper class
boundaries.
 The vertical scale measures cumulative
frequencies.
3. Plot points that represent the upper class boundaries
and their corresponding cumulative frequencies.

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 Constructing an Ogive

4. Connect the points in order from left to right.

5. The graph should start at the lower boundary of the
first class (cumulative frequency is zero) and should
end at the upper boundary of the last class
(cumulative frequency is equal to the sample size).

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 Example: Ogive

Construct an ogive for the GPS navigators frequency

distribution.
Class Frequency, Cumulative
Class boundaries f frequency
59 – 114 58.5 – 114.5 86.5 5
115 – 170 114.5 – 170.5 142.5 13
171 – 226 170.5 – 226.5 198.5 19
227 – 282 226.5 – 282.5 254.5 24
283 – 338 282.5 – 338.5 310.5 26
339 – 394 338.5 – 394.5 366.5 27
395 – 450 394.5 – 450.5 422.5 30

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 Solution: Ogive

6.5 18.5 30.5 42.5 54.5 66.5 78.5 90.5

From the ogive, you can see that about 25 GPS navigators cost
$300 or less. The greatest increase occurs between $114.50 and
$170.50.

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 Section 2.1 Summary

• Constructed frequency distributions

• Constructed frequency histograms, frequency
polygons, relative frequency histograms and ogives

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