STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY

Chapter 4 Measures of Central Tendency

The measure of central tendency is the point about which the scores
tend to cluster or the value to be expected of a typical or middle data point.

The most commonly used measures of central tendency are the mean,
median, and mode.

I. Raw or Ungrouped data. Data that have not been classified,

arranged, or organized.

A. MEAN. The mean or arithmetic mean is the arithmetic average of

set of observations.

Formula:
∑𝑥 Sum of all data values
Mean= 𝑛
Number of data values

If the data are a sample from a population the mean is denoted by x

(pronounced x-bar); if the data are the entire population the mean is
denoted by µ (lowercase Greek mu).

Notation:

∑ denotes the sum of a set of data values.

X is the variable usually used to present the individual data values.

n represents the number of the data values in sample

 N represents the number of data values in population
∑𝑥
x= Is the mean of a set of sample values.
𝑛

∑𝑥
µ= Is the mean of all values in a population.
𝑛

Example: The daily income of a vendor in 7 days are P520, P450, P300,
P600, P430, P380, and P320. Find the average income of the man in
one week.

Solution: M= P520+P450+P300+P600+P430+P380+P320

= P428.57

B. MEDIAN. The median of a data set is the measure of center that is

the middle value when the original data values are arranged in
order of increasing or decreasing magnitude.

To find the median, first sort the values (arranged them in order),
then follow one of these two procedures:

1. If the number of data values is odd, the median is the number

located in the exact middle of the list.
2. If the number of the data values is even, the median is found by
computing the mean of the two middle numbers.

Rules for determining the median are as follows:

If n is odd Mdn is the (n+1)/2th

If n is even Mdn is the midway point between the n/2th score and the
(n/2)+1th score.

Example 1: Given the ages of 7 girls: 15, 19, 14, 13, 18, 19, 16 find the
median of their ages.

Solution: Odd

Girls 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ages in the data array 13 14 15 16 18 19 19

Mdn = the (n+1/2)th item in the data array

= the 4th item

= 16 years old

Example 2: Patients treated in OPD of a hospital in 8 consecutive days.

No. of patients 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
In data array 56 47 33 30 27 25 21 18

Mdn = is the (n/2th score)+1th score

= 8/2+1

= 4+1

= 4th and 5th item

= (30+27)/2

= 28.5 or 28 patients
 C. MODE. The most often repeated value or the value with the
highest frequency in the data set.

Types of Mode

1. Unimodal- a distribution with only one mode.

2. Bimodal- a distribution with two mode.
3. Trimodal- a distribution with three mode.
4. Multimodal- a distribution with two or more mode.

Below are the examples of distributions with one mode, two

modes, and three modes, respectively.

Set I 10 10 19 17 10 16 18 15 11 Mode is 10
Set II 2 3 4 4 5 7 3 6 8 Modes: 3 and 4
Set III 25 22 29 28 24 24 21 25 29 Modes: 24, 25, & 29

II. Group data. Data that have been classified, arranged, or organized.

Whereas;
A. Mean= ∑fx
N f = class frequency

X = class midpoint

N = sum of the frequency

Class Limits/ Midpoint (x) Frequency (f) fx

Intervals
125-129 127 1 127
120-124 122 2 244
115-119 117 3 351
110-114 112 6 672
105-109 107 8 856
100-104 102 10 1020
95-99 97 6 582
90-94 92 4 368
85-89 87 4 348
80-84 82 2 164
75-79 77 3 231
70-74 72 1 72
N=50 ∑fx=5035

Mean= ∑fx
N

= 5035/50

= 100.70

B. Median= l+ (N/2-cf<) i Where as;

fm
l = exact lower boundary of the
median class

N = number of scores

cf< = cumulative frequency

immediately preceding the
median class

fm = frequency of the median class

i = interval
 Median class is the class with the smallest cumulative frequency
greater than or equal to one-half of the total frequency.

Class Limits/ Midpoint (x) Frequency (f) fx cf<

Intervals
125-129 127 1 127 50
120-124 122 2 244 49
115-119 117 3 351 47
110-114 112 6 672 44
105-109 107 8 856 38
100-104 102 10 1020 30
95-99 97 6 582 20
90-94 92 4 368 14
85-89 87 4 348 10
80-84 82 2 164 6
75-79 77 3 231 4
70-74 72 1 72 1
N=50 ∑fx=5035

Solution:

N/2= 25 <cfb= 20

Lb= 99.5 f= 10 i= 5

Mdn= 99.5 + (25-20/10)5= 102

C. MODE
Mo= Lmo+ (_d1_) i
d1+d2
 Whereas;

Lmo = lower limit of the modal class

d1 = frequency of the modal class minus the

frequency of the class directly below it.

d2 = frequency of the modal class minus the

frequency of the class directly above it.

i = size of the class interval

Class Limits/ Midpoint (x) Frequency (f) fx

Intervals
125-129 127 1 127
120-124 122 2 244
115-119 117 3 351
110-114 112 6 672
105-109 107 8 856
100-104 102 10 1020
95-99 97 6 582
90-94 92 4 368
85-89 87 4 348
80-84 82 2 164
75-79 77 3 231
70-74 72 1 72
N=50 ∑fx=5035

Mo= Lmo+ (_d1_) i Mo= 100+(4/4+2)5= 103.33

d1+d2