Measures of Central

Tendency
• A central tendency (or measure of
central tendency) is a central or typical
value for a probability distribution.
• It may also be called a center or
location of the distribution. Colloqially,
measures of central tendency are often
called averages.
• There are three types of measures of
central tendency namely: arithmetic
mean, median, and mode
Ungrouped Data Grouped Data
7 10-15
12 16-21
13 22-27
14 28-32
15
20
31
Measures of Central Tendency of
Ungrouped Data

• Mean or Average

Sum of observations
Mean (𝑥)ҧ =
Total number of observations
• Example:

The grades of student A in 5 subjects are : 78, 88,

89, 90, and 95. What is her mean grade?

Solution:
78 + 88 + 89 + 90 + 95 440
Mean ( 𝑥ഥ ) = = = 88
5 5

Therefore, the average grade of the student in

the 5 subjects is 88.
• Median
- is the midpoint of an array of numbers or
observations. The symbol Md represents the median.

Example:
Find the median of the scores of sophomore
students in Chemistry.
12, 34, 23, 14, 16, 33, 41, 35, 10, 45, 25, 24, 50
Solution:
Write the observations in ascending order:
10, 12, 14, 16, 23, 24, 25, 33, 34, 35, 41, 45, 50
Thus, the midpoint is 25.
 • Mode
- is the observation which appears the most
number of times in a distribution.

Example:
What is the mode of the scores of the
students in a Statistics test?
The scores are as follows:
12, 13, 12, 11, 10, 20, 24, 25, 10, 22, 20, 13,
16, 18, 20, 20, 20, 20.
 • Solution:
Score Frequency
12 2
13 2
11 1
10 2
20 6
highest frequency
24 1
25 1
22 1
16 1
18 1

Therefore, the mode is 20 since it is the observation or score which

appeared the most number of times.
Measures of Central Tendency of
Grouped Data

• Mean
Ʃ𝑓𝑥
𝑥ҧ =
𝑁
Where:
Ʃ𝑓𝑥 = Summation of 𝑓𝑥
N = Summation of frequency(f)
• Median
𝑁
−<𝑐𝑓
2
Md = 𝐿𝑀𝑑 + 𝔦
𝑓𝑀𝑑

Where:
𝐿𝑀𝑑 = lower boundary of the lower limit
of the median class
<cf = less than cumulative frequency
below the median class
𝔦 = classs size

𝑓𝑀𝑑 = frequency of the median class

• Mode
𝑑1
Mo = 𝐿𝑀𝑜 + 𝔦
𝑑1 + 𝑑2
where:
Mo = modal class or the class interval with
the highest frequency
𝐿𝑀𝑜 = lower limit of the class
boundary where the modal class is
found
𝑑1 = difference between the f of the
model class and the f of the class
next lower in value
𝑑2 = difference between the f of the
model class and the f of the class
next higher in value
 • EXAMPLE:
Class Frequency Class limit Class Class boundary fx Less than
(f) mark Cumulative
(x) frequency
Lower Upper Lower Upper
(<cf)
Limit Limit boundary boundary
10 - 14 3 10 14 12 9.5 14.5 36 3

15 - 19 7 15 19 17 14.5 19.5 119 10

20 - 24 8 20 24 22 19.5 24.5 176 18

25 - 29 10 25 29 27 24.5 29.5 270 28

30 - 34 5 30 34 32 29.5 34.5 160 33

35 - 39 2 35 39 37 34.5 39.5 74 35
• SOLUTIONS:

N = 35
Ʃ𝑓𝑥 = 835

Mean:

Ʃ𝑓𝑥 835
𝑥ҧ = = = 23.86
𝑁 35
• Median:
𝑁
−<𝑐𝑓
2
Md = 𝐿𝑀𝑑 + 𝔦
𝑓𝑀𝑑

To determine the median class:

𝑛 35
= = 17.5
2 2

17.5−10
Md = 19.5 + 5
8
37.5
= 19.5 +
8
= 19.5 + 4.69
Md = 24.19
• Mode:
𝑑1
Mo = 𝐿𝑀𝑜 + 𝔦
𝑑1 + 𝑑2

2
= 24.5 + 5 𝑑1 = 10 – 8 = 2
2+5
10
= 24.5 + 𝑑2 = 10 – 5 = 5
7
Mo = 25.93