CHAPTER 3

MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

Content
 Objectives
At the end of this chapter students will be able to:
 Identify measure of central tendency
 understand properties of arithmetic mean
 Summarize an aggregate of statistical data by using single
measure
 Define and calculate the mean, mode and median.
 Measure the position of data using quartiles, deciles and
percentiles with their interpretation
3.1 The Summation Notation (
Statistical Symbols: Let a data set consists of a number of
observations, represents by where n (the last subscript) denotes
the number of observations in the data and is the observation.
Then the sum of all numbers ( ) where i goes from 1 up to n is
symbolically given by
or or
=
x - whole set of numbers
-specific score in a set of numbers
n - total number of observations
 Example 3.1: For instance a data set consisting of six
measurements 2, 3, 9, 10, 8 and -2 is represented
by where =2, = 3, = 9, = 10, = 8 and = -2
 Their sum becomes = + + + + + = 2+3+9+10+8+ (-2)
= 30
Some Properties of the Summation Notation
1. = n.c , where c is a constant number
2. = b where b is a constant number
3. ) = n.a+ b
4. . )=
5. .)=
3.2 Properties of measures of central
tendency
A good average should be:
1. Rigidly defined (unique).
2. Based on all observation under investigation.
3. Easily understood.
4. Simple to compute.
5. Suitable for further mathematical treatment.
6. Little affected by fluctuations of sampling.
7. Not highly affected by extreme values.
 3.3 Types of Measures of Central Tendency
Measures of Central Tendency:
 give us information about the location of the
center of the distribution of data values.
 A single value that describes the characteristics of
the entire mass of data is called measures of
central tendency.
 We will discuss briefly the three measures of
central tendency: mean, median and mode in this
unit.
 The following are types of central tendency which
are suitable for a particular type of data.
 These are:
Mean
 Arithmetic mean
 Weighted Arithmetic mean
 Combined mean
 Geometric mean
 Harmonic mean
Median
 Mode or modal value
3.3.1 Arithmetic Mean
Arithmetic mean:-is defined as the sum of the measurements of
the items divided by the total number of items.
It is usually denoted by .
Arithmetic Mean for individual series:
 Suppose are observed values in a sample of size n from a
population of size N, n then the arithmetic mean of the
sample, denoted by is
given by =
 If we take an entire population the Mean is denoted by μ and
is given by: μ=
 Where N stands for the total number of observations in the
population.
Example 3.3: The number of flowers per plant is given below.
Find the mean.
i. 5 12 9 6
ii. 6 8 6 7 8 Find the arithmetic mean
Solution:
i. The sample values are: 5 12 9 6
= = =8
The arithmetic mean for sample value is 8.
ii. The sample values are: 6 8 6 7 8
= = =7
The arithmetic mean for sample value is 7
Arithmetic mean for discrete data arranged in frequency
distribution
 When the numbers occur with frequencies respectively,
then the mean can be expressed in a more compact form as:
Example 3.4 Calculate the arithmetic mean of the pulse rates
(beats per minute) of eleven students: 60, 60, 71, 68, 71, 72, 71,
76, 72, 80 and 80
= = = 71
 In this case there are two 60’s, one 68, three 71’s, two 72’s,
one 76, and two 80’s.
 The number of times each number occurs is called its
frequency and the frequency is usually denoted by f.
 The information in the sentence above can be written in a
table, as follows
 Value, 60 68 71 71 76 80 total

Frequency 2 1 3 2 1 2 11
120 68 213 144 76 160 781

The formula for the arithmetic mean for data of this

type is

In this case we have: = = 71

The mean pulse rate (beats per minute) of the
eleven students is 71.
Arithmetic Mean for Grouped Continuous
Frequency Distribution
If data are given in the form of continuous frequency
distribution, the sample mean can be computed as
, where is the

class mark of the class , i=1,2,…,k

is the frequency of the class and k is the number of
class. Note that = n = the total number of
observations.
Example 3.5 The following frequency table gives the
height (in inches) of 100 students in a college.
Class boundary 60-62 62-64 64-66 66-68 68-70 70-72
Frequency ( 5 18 42 20 8 7

Calculate the mean

Solution: The formula to be used for the mean is as
follows:

Let us calculate these values and make a table for

these values for the sake of convenience.
 Class boundary Frequency ( Mid-point ()

60-62 5 61 305
62-64 18 63 1134
64-66 42 65 2730
66-68 20 67 1340
68-70 8 69 552
70-72 7 71 497
total 100 6558

Substituting these values with = 100 and = 6558 :

we get = =65.58
The mean height of students is 65.58
Weighted Arithmetic Mean
• While calculating simple arithmetic mean, all items
were assumed to be of equally importance (each
value in the data set has equal weight).
• When the observations have different weight, we
use weighted average. Weights are assigned to each
item in proportion to its relative importance
• If represent values of the items and , are the
corresponding weights, then the weighted mean is
given by
• =
• Example 3.6 A studen’s final mark in Mathematics, Physics,
Chemistry and Biology are respectively A, B, D and C. If the
respective credits received for these courses are 4, 4, 3 and
2, determine the approximate average mark the student
has got for the course.
• Solution: We use a weighted arithmetic mean, weight
associated with each course being taken as the number of
credits received for the corresponding course

4 3 1 2 Total
4 4 3 2 13
16 12 3 4 35
• = = = =2.69
• Average mark of the student is
approximately 2.69.
 Combined mean
Combined mean:-When a set of observations is
divided into k groups and is the mean of
observations of group 1, is the mean of
observations of group2, …, is the mean of
observations of group k , then the combined mean
denoted by , of all observations taken together is
given by
=
This is a special case of the weighted mean. In this
case the sample sizes are the weights.
Example 3.7 In the Previous year there were
two sections taking Statistics course. At the
end of the semester, the two sections got
average marks of 70 & 78. There were 45
and 50 students in each section respectively.
Find the mean mark for the entire students
Solution: = =
= = = 74.21
 3.3.2 Geometric Mean
The geometric mean like arithmetic mean is calculated average.
It is used when observed values are measured as ratios,
percentages, proportions, indices or growth rates.
 Geometric mean for individual series:- The geometric
mean, G.M. of an individual series of positive numbers is
defined as the root of their product.
G.M. = = antilog()
Example 3.8: Find the G. M of
a.3 and 12 b. 2, 4 and 8
Solution: a. GM = = =6
b. GM = = = = 4
  Geometric mean for discrete data arranged in FD
When the numbers occur with frequencies , , respectively, then the
geometric mean is obtained by
GM = = antilog (log
Example 3.9 Compute the geometric mean of the following values: 3, 3,
4, 4, 4, 5, 6 and 6. Solution

Values 3 4 5 6
Frequency 2 3 1 2
GM = = =4.236
The geometric mean for the given data is 4.236.
 Geometric mean for continuous grouped FD: The above
formula can also be used whenever the frequency distribution is
grouped continuous, class marks of the class intervals are considered
as .
3.3.3. Harmonic Mean

 It is a suitable measure of central tendency when the data

pertains to speed, rate and time.
 The harmonic of n values is defined as n divided by the sum
of their reciprocal.
 Harmonic mean for individual series:- If are n observations,
then harmonic mean can be represented by the following
formula:
H.M =
Example 3.10: A car travels 25 miles at 25 mph, 25 miles at 50
mph, and 25 miles at 75 mph. Find the harmonic mean of the
three velocities. Solution :
H.M = = = =3* = 40.9
 Harmonic mean for discrete data arranged in FD:-
If the data is arranged in the form of
frequency distribution
H.M = where, n=
 Harmonic mean for continuous grouped FD:
Whenever the frequency distribution are
grouped continuous, class marks of the class
intervals are considered as and the above
formula can be used as H.M = where, n=
is the class mark of class.
3.3.4 Median
 The median is as its name indicates the middle most value in the
arrangement which divides the data into two equal parts.
 It is obtained by arranging the data in an increasing or decreasing
order of magnitude and denoted by .
 Median for individual series:-
 We arrange the sample in ascending order of the variable of
interest.
 Then the median is the middle value (if the sample size n is odd)
or the average of the two middle values (if the sample size n is
even).
 For individual series the median is obtained by
= value if n is odd, and
= if n is even.
 Example 3.11: Find the median for the following data.
A. -5 ,15 ,10, 5, 0, 2, 1, 4, 6 & 8 B. 5, 2, 2, 3, 1, 8 &
4
Solution;
A. The data in ascending order is given by: -5 0 1 2 4 5 6
8 10 15 n=10 n is even. The two middle values are and
observations. So the median is,
=
= = =4.5
B. The data in ascending order is given by: 1 2 2 3 4 5 8
The middle value is the observation. So the median is 3.
 Median for Discrete data arranged in a frequency distribution:-
 In this case also, the median is obtained by the above formula.
 After arranging the value in an increasing order find the smallest
CF greater than or equal to that value obtained by formula and the
corresponding value is the median.
 Median for grouped continuous data:-For continuous data, the
median is obtained by the following formula.
median ( )= L+ - CF)
Where: L= the lower class boundary of the median class; w = the class
width of the median class; = the frequency of the median class and
CF = the cum. freq. corresponding to the class preceding the median
class. That is, the sums of the frequencies of all classes lower than the
median class.
Where the median class is the class which contains the observation
whether n is odd or even, since the items have already lost their
originality once they are grouped in to continuous classes.
example 3.12: Water percentage in the body of species of Fish is given
below. Calculate the median.

C.I 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 Total

freq 7 17 16 6 4 50
Solution: Construct the less than cumulative frequency distribution, then:

C.I 15-24 24-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 Total

Freq 7 17 16 6 4 50
cum.freq 7 24 40 46 50
 Since n = 50, 50/2 = 25, and the smallest CF greater than or
equal to 25 is 40; thus, the median class is the third class. And
for this class, L = 34.5, w = 10, med = 16, CF = 24. Then applying
the formula, we get:
median ( )= L+ - CF) = 34.5+(2524)*10/16 = 35.1.
3.3.5 The Mode or modal value
 The mode or the modal value is the value with the highest frequency
and denoted by .
 A data set may not have a mode or may have more than one mode.
 A distribution is called a bimodal distribution if it has two data values
that appear with the greatest frequency.
 If a distribution has more than two modes, then the distribution is
multimodal.
 If a distribution has no modes, then the distribution is non-modal.
 Mode of individual series: The mode or the modal value of individual
series (raw data) is simple and obtained by locating the observation
with the maximum frequency.
Example 3.13: Consider the following data:
a. 30 ,45, 69, 70, 32, 18 & 32. The Mode (.) = 32.
b. 10, 20, 30, 10, 40 & 30. The Mode (.) = 10 and 30.
c. 10 ,40, 30, 20, 50 & 60. The Mode (.) = No Mode.
 Mode for discrete data arranged in a frequency distribution:-In
the case of discrete grouped data, the mode is determined just by
looking to that value (s) having the highest frequency.
 Mode for Grouped Continuous Frequency Distribution: For
grouped data, the mode is found by the following formula. In such
cases, one can only determine the modal class easily i.e. the class
with the highest frequency. After locating this class, the mode is
interpolated using:
Mode() = L+w , where L = the lower class boundary of the modal
class; = , = , w = the common class width, =frequency of the class
immediately preceding the modal class; = frequency of the class
immediately succeeding the modal class; and = frequency of the
modal class
• Example 3.14: Calculate the mode for the
frequency distribution (water percentage) of
the data on example 3.12.
• Solution: By inspection, the mode lies in the
second class, where L =24.5, = 17, = 7, =16,
w = 10.
• Using the formula, the mode is:
= L+ =24.5 + *10 = 33.59
 3.5 Measures of Non-central Locations
They are averages of position (non-central
tendency). Some of these are quartiles, deciles
and percentiles.
1.Quartiles: are values which divide the data
set in to approximately four equal parts,
denoted by .
The first quartile () is also called the lower
quartile and the third quartile () is the upper
quartile. The second quartile () is the median.
 Quartiles for Individual series:
Let be n ordered observations. The quartile () is the value of the item
corresponding with the position, i = 1, 2, 3. That is, after arranging the
data in ascending order, are, obtained by:
= value = value and = value
 Quartiles for discrete data arranged in a frequency distribution:-
 Arranged in a frequency distribution this case also, we will follow
the same procedure as the median.
 That is, we construct the less than cumulative frequency
distribution and apply the formula of quartile for Individual series.
 Quartiles in continuous data:-
For continuous data, use the following formula: = L+ - CF), Where i = 1, 2
& 3. and L, w , and CF are defined in the same way as the median
i.e. = L+ - CF), = L+ - CF) and = L+ - CF)
 The class under question is the one including value.
 That is, the class with the minimum cumulative frequency greater
than or equal to is the class of the quartile.

2.Deciles: are values dividing the data approximately in to ten

equal parts, denoted by,
 Decile for Individual series:
 Let be n ordered observations.
 The decile () is the value of the item corresponding with the
position, i = 1, 2,…,9.
 That is, after arranging the data in ascending order, are, obtained by:
 = value ,= value,…,= value
 Deciles for Discrete data arranged in a
frequency distribution:
 Arranged in a frequency distribution this case also, we will follow
the same procedure as the median.
 That is, we construct the less than cumulative frequency
distribution and apply the formula of deciles for individual series.
 Deciles for continuous data:
 Apply the following formula and follow the procedures of quartile for continuous
data.
= L+ - CF). Where i = 1, 2,…,9, Then
Define the symbols similar ways as we did in the case of quartiles for continuous data.
3.Percentiles: are values which divide the data approximately in to one hundred equal
parts, and denoted by
 Percentiles for Individual series:
 Let be n ordered observations.
 The percentile () is the value of the item corresponding with the position, i = 1, 2,
…,99.
 That is, after arranging the data in ascending order, are obtained by:
 = value ,= value,…,= value
 Percentiles for Discrete data arranged in a frequency
distribution:-
 Arranged in a frequency distribution this case also, we will
follow the same procedure as the median.
 That is, we construct the less than cumulative frequency
distribution and apply the formula of percentile for
individual series.
 Percentiles for continuous data: Apply the following
formula
= L+ - CF). Where i = 1, 2,…,99, Then
 Define the symbols similar ways as we did in the case of
quartiles or deciles for continuous data.
Interpretations
1. is the value below which ( i × 25) percent of the
observations in the series are found (where i = 1, 2,3). For
instance means the value below which 75 percent of
observations in the given series are found.
2. is the value below which ( i ×10) percent of the observations
in the series are found (where i = 1, 2,...,9 ). For instance is the
value below which 40 percent of the values are found in the
series.
3. is the value below which i percent of the total observations
are found (where i = 1, 2,3,...,99 ). For example 60 percent of
the observations in a given series are below .
Example 3.16:Calculate , for the following tables.

X 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
F 2 8 25 48 65 40 20 9 2
Solution: The given data is measured and it is arranged in an
increasing order. So we need to construct only the cumulative
frequency table before calculating the required values.
X 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
F 2 8 25 48 65 40 20 9 2
Cum.f 2 10 35 83 148 188 208 217 219
req
The total number of observations is 219 which is odd. Clearly
then the median is 14 because
= value = = value= 14
= value = value = value = 13
= value = value = value = 14 =
= value = value = value = 15
= value = value = value = 14
= value = value = value = 16
= value = value = value = 16
= value = value = value = 16
Example 3.17: Values of fecundity (rate of reproduction) of 50 Fish
of a species of Fish is given below. Based on the data find , and

Rate of 1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 Total
reproduction
F 3 11 7 4 15 0 7 3 50

Solution:- first find the class boundaries and cumulative

frequency distributions.

Rate of 1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 Total
reproduction

F 3 11 7 4 15 0 7 3 50
Cum.freq 3 14 21 25 40 40 47 50
 Measure of value = value which lies in group 10.5 – 20.5
= L+ - CF) = 10.5+(12.5-3) = 19.1
Measure of value = value which lies in group 20.5 – 30.5
= L+ - CF) = 20.5+(20.5-14) = 29.1
Measure of value = value which lies in group 10.5 – 20.5
= L+ - CF) = 10.5+(3.5-3) = 11
 END OF
Thank You CHAPTER
TWO