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(HEIGHT IN INCHES)
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Calculation of arithmetic mean for Therefore, the mean plot size in the
Grouped data housing colony is 126.92 Sq. metre.
Discrete Series
Assumed Mean Method
Direct Method
As in case of individual series the
In case of discrete series, calculations can be simplified by using
frequency against each observation is assumed mean method, as described
multiplied by the value of the earlier, with a simple modification.
observation. The values, so obtained, Since frequency (f) of each item is
are summed up and divided by the total given here, we multiply each deviation
number of frequencies. Symbolically, (d) by the frequency to get fd. Then we
get Σ fd. The next step is to get the total
ΣfX
X = of all frequencies i.e. Σ f. Then find out
Σf
Σ fd/ Σ f. Finally, the arithmetic mean
Where, Σ fX = sum of the product Σfd
of variables and frequencies. is calculated by X = A + using
Σf
Σ f = sum of frequencies.
assumed mean method.
Example 3
Step Deviation Method
Plots in a housing colony come in only
In this case, the deviations are divided
three sizes: 100 sq. metre, 200 sq.
by the common factor ‘c’ which
meters and 300 sq. metre and the
simplifies the calculation. Here we
number of plots are respectively 200
50 and 10. d X−A
estimate d' = = in order to
c c
TABLE 5.2
reduce the size of numerical figures for
Computation of Arithmetic Mean by
Direct Method easier calculation. Then get fd' and Σ fd'.
Plot size in No. of d' = X–200 The formula for arithmetic mean using
Sq. metre X Plots (f) fX 100 fd' step deviation method is given as,
100 200 20000 –1 –200 Σfd ′
200 50 10000 0 0 X =A + ×c
300 10 3000 +1 10 Σf
260 33000 0 –190 Activity
Arithmetic mean using direct method, • Find the mean plot size for the
data given in example 3, by
∑X 33000 using step deviation and
X= = = 126.92 Sq. metre
N 260 assumed mean methods.
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Direct Method
Two interesting properties of A.M.
Marks
0–10 10–20 20–30 30–40 40–50 (i) the sum of deviations of items
50–60 60–70 about arithmetic mean is always equal
No. of Students
5 12 15 25 8 to zero. Symbolically, Σ ( X – X ) = 0.
3 2 (ii) arithmetic mean is affected by
extreme values. Any large value, on
TABLE 5.3
Computation of Average Marks for
either end, can push it up or down.
Exclusive Class Interval by Direct Method
Weighted Arithmetic Mean
Mark No. of Mid fm d'=(m-35) fd'
(x) students value (2)×(3) 10 Sometimes it is important to assign
(f) (m)
weights to various items according to
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
their importance when you calculate
0–10 5 5 25 –3 –15
10–20 12 15 180 –2 –24 the arithmetic mean. For example,
20–30 15 25 375 –1 –15 there are two commodities, mangoes
30–40 25 35 875 0 0 and potatoes. You are interested in
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finding the average price of mangoes that mean remains the same.
(P1) and potatoes (P2). The arithmetic • Replace the value 12 by 96.
What happens to the arithmetic
mean will be . However, you
mean? Comment.
might want to give more importance to
the rise in price of potatoes (P2). To do 3. MEDIAN
this, you may use as ‘weights’ the share
Median is that positional value of the
of mangoes in the budget of the variable which divides the distribution
consumer (W 1) and the share of into two equal parts, one part
potatoes in the budget (W2). Now the comprises all values greater than or
arithmetic mean weighted by the equal to the median value and the other
shares in the budget would comprises all values less than or equal
to it. The Median is the “middle”
W1 P1 + W2 P2
element when the data set is
be .
W1 + W2 arranged in order of the magnitude.
In general the weighted arithmetic Since the median is determined by the
position of different values, it remains
mean is given by,
unaffected if, say, the size of the
largest value increases.
Computation of median
When the prices rise, you may be
interested in the rise in prices of The median can be easily computed by
commodities that are more important sorting the data from smallest to largest
and finding out the middle value.
to you. You will read more about it in
the discussion of Index Numbers in Example 5
Chapter 8.
Suppose we have the following
observation in a data set: 5, 7, 6, 1, 8,
Activities
10, 12, 4, and 3.
• Check property of arithmetic Arranging the data, in ascending order
mean for the following example: you have:
X: 4 6 8 10 12 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12.
• In the above example if mean
is increased by 2, then what
happens to the individual The “middle score” is 6, so the
observations. median is 6. Half of the scores are larger
• If first three items increase by than 6 and half of the scores are smaller.
2, then what should be the If there are even numbers in the
values of the last two items, so data, there will be two observations
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formula where N is the number of has been derived from the French word
observations. “la Mode” which signifies the most
(N + 1)th fashionable values of a distribution,
Q1= size of item because it is repeated the highest
4
number of times in the series. Mode is
3(N +1)th the most frequently observed data
Q3 = size of item.
4 value. It is denoted by Mo.
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Recap
• The measure of central tendency summarises the data with a single
value, which can represent the entire data.
• Arithmetic mean is defined as the sum of the values of all observations
divided by the number of observations.
• The sum of deviations of items from the arithmetic mean is always
equal to zero.
• Sometimes, it is important to assign weights to various items
according to their importance.
• Median is the central value of the distribution in the sense that the
number of values less than the median is equal to the number greater
than the median.
• Quartiles divide the total set of values into four equal parts.
• Mode is the value which occurs most frequently.
EXERCISES
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Daily Income (in Rs) 10–14 15–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35–39
Number of workers 5 10 15 20 10 5
(Hint: compute median, lower quartile and upper quartile.)
[Ans. (a) Rs 25.11 (b) Rs 19.92 (c) Rs 29.19]
9. The following table gives production yield in kg. per hectare of wheat of
150 farms in a village. Calculate the mean, median and mode values.
Production yield (kg. per hectare)
50–53 53–56 56–59 59–62 62–65 65–68 68–71 71–74 74–77
Number of farms
3 8 14 30 36 28 16 10 5
(Ans. mean = 63.82 kg. per hectare, median = 63.67 kg. per hectare,
mode = 63.29 kg. per hectare)
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