SKEWNESS & KURTOSIS

12/08/2021 1
 Skewness
• One of the characteristic of a set of data is the
shape.
• There are four shapes commonly observed:
– symmetric,
– positively skewed,
– negatively skewed,
– bimodal.
• If the distribution of data is not symmetrical it is
known as asymmetrical or skewed.
12/08/2021 2
 Skewness - Formulas for Computing
• The coefficient of skewness can range from -3 up to 3.
– A value near -3, such as -2.57, indicates considerable negative
skewness.
– A value such as 1.63 indicates moderate positive skewness.
– A value of 0, which will occur when the mean and median are
equal, indicates the distribution is symmetrical and that there
is no skewness present.

• Pearson’s coefficient of Skewness –

• Excel Software coefficient of Skewness -

12/08/2021 3
 Shape of a Distribution

Describes how data are distributed

Measures of shape - Symmetric or skewed
Right-Skewed Left-Skewed
Mean = Median Median < Mean Mean < Median

12/08/2021 4
 Kurtosis
• Kurtosis measures the amount of peakedness of a distribution.
– Leptokurtic (a) - A more peaked distribution than the normal distribution.
(positive kurtosis value).
– Platykurtic (b) - A flatter distribution than a normal distribution. (negative
kurtosis value).
– Mesokurtic (c) - Between the above two types of distribution is a distribution
which is more normal in shape.

12/08/2021 5
 Skewness – An Example
• Following are the earnings per share for a sample of 5
software companies for the year 2005. The earnings
per share are arranged from smallest to largest.
26.0 , 28.0 , 31.0 , 33.0 , 36.0
• Compute the mean, median, and standard deviation.
Find the coefficient of skewness using Pearson’s
estimate. What is your conclusion regarding the shape
of the distribution?

X 
 X
;s 

 X X  2

; sk 
3( X  Median )
12/08/2021 n n 1 s 6