Measure of Central Tendency

Objective:
Demonstrate understanding on the Measure of Central Tendency.
Students are expected to:
• Define Mean, Median, and Mode
• Find the mean, median and mode of the given set of data
Measure of Central Tendency provides a very convenient way of describing a set of score with a single number that
describes the performance of the group. It also defined as a single value that is used to describe the “center” of the data.

Mean
- Is the most commonly used measure of the center of data and it is also referred as the “arithmetic average”.

Population Mean
σ 𝑿 𝑿 𝟏 + 𝑿𝟐 + 𝑿𝟑 + ⋯ 𝑿𝒏
𝝁= =
𝑵 𝑵

Sample Mean
σ 𝑿 𝑿 𝟏 + 𝑿𝟐 + 𝑿𝟑 + ⋯ 𝑿𝒏
ഥ=
𝒙 =
𝑵 𝑵

Mean for Ungrouped Data

σ𝑿
1. ഥ=
𝒙 𝒏

σ 𝒇𝒙
2. ഥ=
𝒙 𝒏
Example 1
Scores of 15 students in Mathematics I quiz consist of 25 items. The highest score is 25 and the lowest score is 10. here are
the scores: 25, 20, 18, 18, 17, 16, 15, 15, 14, 14, 14, 12, 12, 10, 10. Find the mean in the following scores.

Example 2
60 students were asked how many books they had read over the past 12 months. The results are listed in the frequency
distribution table below. Calculate the mean number of books read by each student.

Number of Books Number of Students

0 1
1 6
2 8
3 10
4 13
5 8
6 5
7 6
8 3
Mean for Group Data
- are the data or scores that are arranged in a frequency distribution.
Frequency distribution is the arrangement of scores according to category of classes including the frequency.
Frequency is the number of the observations falling in a category.

Midpoint Method
σ 𝑿𝒎
ഥ=
𝒙 𝒏
ഥ = mean value
𝒙
f = frequency in each class or category
𝑿𝒎 = midpoint of each class or category
σ 𝑿𝒎 = summation of the product of f𝑿𝒎

Steps in solving Mean for Grouped Data

𝑳𝑳+𝑼𝑳
1. Find the midpoint or class mark (𝑿𝒎 ) of each class or category 𝑿𝒎 = 𝟐
.
2. Multiply the frequency and the midpoint f𝑿𝒎 .
3. Find the sum of results in step 2.
σ 𝑿𝒎
ഥ=
4. Solve the mean using the formula 𝒙 .
𝒏
Example 3
Scores of 40 students in a science class consist of 60 items and they are tabulated below.

𝑿 𝒇 𝑿𝒎 f𝑿𝒎
10 − 14 5 12 60
15 − 19 2 17 34
20 − 24 3 22 66
25 − 29 5 27 135
30 − 34 2 32 64
35 − 39 9 37 333
40 − 44 6 42 252
45 − 49 3 47 141
50 − 54 5 52 260
𝑛 = 40 σ 𝒇𝑿𝒎 =
Properties of Mean
1. It measure stability. Mean is the most stable among other measures of central tendency because every score contributes to
the value of the mean.
2. The sum of each score’s distance from the mean is zero.
3. It is easily affected by the extreme scores.
4. It may not be an actual score in the distribution.
5. It can be applied to interval level of measurement.
6. It is very easy to compute.

When to use the Mean

1. Sampling stability is desired.
2. Other measures are to be computed such as standard deviation, coefficient of variation and skewness.
Median
- Is what divides the scores in the distribution into two equal parts. It is also known
as the middle score or the 50th percentile.

Median of Ungrouped Data

1. Arranged the scores (from the lowest to highest or highest to lowest).
2. Determine the middle most score in a distribution if 𝑛 is an even number.

Example 1
Find the median score of 7 students in an English class.
𝑥 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 = 19, 17, 16, 15, 10, 5, 2
Analysis:
The median score is 15. Fifty percent (50%) or three of the score above 15 (16, 17,
19) and 50% or three of the score below 15 (10, 5, 2)
Example 2
Find the median score of 8 students in a Mathematics Class.
𝑥 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 = 30, 19, 17, 16, 15, 10, 5, 2
16+15
𝑥෤ = = 15.5
2

Median of Grouped Data

Formula:
𝑥෤ = median value
𝑛
𝑀𝐶 = median class is a category containing the The class with the smallest
.
2
cumulative frequency greater than or equal to one-half of the total frequency
𝐿𝐵 = lower boundary of the median class (MC)
𝑐𝑓𝑝 = cumulative frequency before the median class if the scores arranged from
lowest to highest value
𝑓𝑚 = frequency of the median class
𝑐. 𝑖 = size of the class interval
𝑛
−𝑐𝑓𝑝
2
𝑥෤ = 𝐿𝐵 + 𝑐. 𝑖
𝑓𝑚

Steps in Solving Median for Grouped Data

1. Complete the table for cf<.
𝑛
2. Get of the scores in the distribution so that you can identify 𝑀𝐶 .
2
3. Determine 𝐿𝐵 , 𝑐𝑓𝑝, 𝑓𝑚, and 𝑐. 𝑖
4. Solve the median using the formula.
Example 3
Scores of 40 students in a science class consist of 60 items and they are tabulated
below. The highest score is 54 and the lowest score is 10.
𝑿 𝒇 𝒄𝒇 <
10 − 14 5 5
15 − 19 2 7
20 − 24 3 10
25 − 29 5 15
30 − 34 2 17
35 − 39 9 26
40 − 44 6 32
45 − 49 3 35
50 − 54 5 40
𝑛 = 40
Solution:
𝑛 40
= = 20
2 2
𝑛
Category containing is
2
𝑀𝐶 =
𝐿𝐵 =
𝑐𝑓𝑝 =
𝑓𝑚 =
𝑐. 𝑖 = 5
𝑛
2
−𝑐𝑓𝑝
𝑥෤ = 𝐿𝐵 + 𝑐. 𝑖
𝑓𝑚

Analysis:
The median value is 36.17, which means that 50% or 20 scores are less than 36.17.
Properties of the Median
1. It may not be an actual observation in the data set.
2. It can be applied in ordinal level.
3. It is not affected by extreme values because median is a positional measure.

When to use the Median

1. The exact midpoint of the score distribution is desired.
2. There are extreme scores in the distribution.
Mode
- Mode or the modal score is a score or scores that occurred most in the
distribution. It is classified as unimodal, bimodal, trimodal, and multimodal.

Unimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of only one mode.

Bimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of two modes.
Trimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of three modes.
Multimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of more than two modes.
Example 1
Scores of 10 students in Section A, Section B, and Section C.
Scores of Section Scores of Section Scores of Section
A B C
25 25 25
24 24 25
24 24 25
20 20 22
20 18 21
20 18 21
16 17 21
12 10 18
10 9 18
7 7 18
Mode for Grouped Data
In solving the mode value using grouped data, use the formula:
𝑑1
𝑥ො = 𝐿𝐵 + + 𝑐. 𝑖
𝑑1 + 𝑑2
𝐿𝐵 = lower boundary of modal class
Modal Class (MC) = is a category containing the highest frequency
𝑑1 = difference between frequency of the modal class and the frequency above
it, when the scores are arranged from lowest to highest.
𝑑2 = difference between frequency of the modal class and the frequency below
it, when the scores are arranged from lowest to highest.
c.i = size of the class interval
Example 2
Scores of 40 students in a science class consist of 60 items and are tabulated below.
𝑿 𝒇 Modal Class = 35 – 39
10 − 14 5 LL of MC = 35
15 − 19 2 𝐿𝐵 = 34.5
20 − 24 3 𝑑1 = 9 − 2 = 7
25 − 29 5 𝑑2 = 9 − 6 = 3
30 − 34 2 c.i = 5
𝟑𝟓 − 𝟑𝟗 9 𝑑1
𝑥ො = 𝐿𝐵 + + 𝑐. 𝑖
𝑑1 +𝑑2
40 − 44 6
45 − 49 3
50 − 54 5
𝑛 = 40
Properties of the Mode
1. It can be used when the data are qualitative as well as quantitative.
2. It may not be unique.
3. It is not affected by extreme values.
4. It may not exist.

When to use the Mode

1. When the “typical” value is desired.
2. When the data set is measured on nominal scale.
The table shows the distribution of scores of 40 students on a Mathematics test.

x f 𝒙𝒎
18-22 4 20
23-27 2 25
28-32 3 30
33-37 5 35
38-42 2 40
43-47 8 45
48-52 6 50
53-57 4 55
58-62 6 60