MEASURES OF CENTRAL

TENDENCY AND VARIATION

Unit: Interpreting Categorical and Quantitative Data
7th-9th Grade, Algebra 1 & 2
Mr. Neima Tanara

Learning Objectives:
• Finding Mean, Median, & Mode
• Plotting & Interquartile Range
• Finding Variance and Standard
Deviation
WHAT WE’RE LEARNING
CA Content Standards:
• Represent data with plots on the
real number line
• Use statistics appropriate to the
shape of the data distribution to
compare center (median, mean)
and spread (interquartile range,
standard deviation)
 WHAT IF I ASKED…
How long is your typical commute to school?

Before you answer, you may consider:

Normally Accident, Answer:

With traffic
about 10 about 45 about 20
30 minutes
minutes minutes minutes

(Data) (Mode) (Outlier) (Mean)

In answering my question, you have already thought of topics we will go over today!
 MEAN, MEDIAN, MODE
• Mean – or average, is the sum of the values in a data set
divided by the number of values
• Represented by the symbol: 𝑥̅
• Median – the middle value, or mean of the two middle values,
when the data set is ordered numerically

• Mode – the value or values that occur most often

 FINDING MEAN (𝑥̅ ):
Free Throws 1. In order to find the mean we must first add all of our values together
Made
11+4+9+6+10 = 40
11

4 2. Once we have found the total of all the values, we must divide by the
number of values
9
40 / 5 = 8
6 $=8
𝒙
10
3. Therefore, we can say the mean (𝑥̅) , or average number of free throws
made is 8
 FINDING THE MEDIAN
1. First we must put the numbers in order
Free Throws
Made
4, 6, 9, 10, 11
11
2. Now we can identify the center number
4

9 4, 6, 9, 10, 11
6 Median= 9
10
 FINDING THE MEDIAN
What happens if we add another number to the data set?
Free Throws
Made 1. We begin the same way by putting the numbers in order

11 4, 6, 6, 9, 10, 11

4 2. Now we have two center numbers

9
4, 6, 6, 9, 10, 11
6
3. In this case, we must find the average of the two center numbers
6

10 𝟔&𝟗
= 7.5
𝟐
 FINDING THE MODE
• In order to find the mode we must determine the value that occurs most often
• The mode in a data set can be more than one value

Free Free
Throws In the data set at the left Throws In this data set, 4 and 11 both
Made the value that occurs most Made appear twice
often is 6
11 11 Therefore, Mode = 4, 11
4 Therefore, Mode = 6 4
9 9
6 6
10 10
6 11
6 4
 TRY IT OUT!
• For the following data set determine the Mean, Median, and Mode
{12, 3, 9, 9, 7, 3, 11, 16, 3, 3, 12, 8, 6, 11, 7}
 TRY IT OUT!
• For the following data set determine the Mean, Median, and Mode
{12, 3, 9, 9, 7, 3, 11, 16, 3, 3, 12, 8, 6, 11, 7}

Mean:
)&)&)&)&*&+&+&,&-&-&..&..&./&./&.*
.0
= 8
Mean (𝑥̅ ) = 8
Median:
3, 3, 3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 11, 11, 12, 12, 16 Median = 8

3, 3, 3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 11, 11, 12, 12, 16 Mode = 3

Mode:
3, 3, 3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 11, 11, 12, 12, 16
 BOX-AND-WHISKER PLOT
• A Box-and-Whisker plot represents minimum and maximum
values, median (Q2) and the first (Q1) and third quartiles (Q3)

• Using a Box-and-Whisker plot will also help us find the

Interquartile Range (IQR)
 BOX-AND-WHISKER PLOT
• Minimum – the lowest value in a data set

• Maximum – the highest value in a data set

• Median (Q2) – the middle value, or mean of the two middle values, when
the data set is ordered numerically

• First Quartile (Q1) – median of the lower half of the data set

• Third Quartile (Q3) – median of the upper half of the data set

• Interquartile Range (IQR) – the difference between Q1 and Q3

 FINDING MINIMUM, MAXIMUM, & MEDIAN
• Lets look at the following data set: • Recall that the Median is the center value when
{2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15} the data set is ordered numerically

{2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15}

• We can see that the value, 2 is the lowest
(7 + 8)/2 = 7.5
value in the data set and 15 is the highest
value in the data set. Median = 7.5

Therefore:
Minimum = 2
Maximum = 15
 FINDING Q1, Q3, & INTERQUARTILE RANGE
• Now that we have found the median for the entire data set we can
determine Q1 & Q2:
{2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15}

Q1 7.5 Q3
Q2

• We can now find the Interquartile Range (IQR) with this simple equation:
IQR = Q3 – Q1
Therefore,
IQR = 9 – 4
IQR = 5
 BOX-AND-WHISKER PLOT
• Now that we have all of our values we can plot them on the number line:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
MIN. Q1 7.5 Q3 MAX.
Q2
 TRY IT OUT!
Make a box-and-whisker plot for the following data set {3, 5, 2, 2, 8, 9, 1, 11}

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
 TRY IT OUT!
Make a box-and-whisker plot for the following data set {3, 5, 2, 2, 8, 9, 1, 11}

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
MIN. Q1 Q2 Q3 MAX.

Minimum: 1 Q1: 2
Maximum: 11 Q2: 8
Q3: 4
 VARIANCE & STANDARD DEVIATION
• Variance (𝜎 /)– the average of the squared differences from the mean
• Standard Deviation (𝜎 ) – the square root of the variance

Measures of variance describes the spread of a data set

• Low standard deviations tell us that the data are close to the measures of
central tendency
• High standard deviations tell us that the data are spread out from the measures
of central tendency
 VARIANCE
Free Throws
• To find the variance we must X-𝒙
$ (X − 𝒙
$)
𝟐
Made
first find the mean
11 3 9
• Then we subtract the each 4 -4 16
value from the mean and
square the answer 9 1 1
6 -2 4
• Finally we find the mean for
𝟐 10 2 4
the values (X − 𝒙$)
/
9 + 16 + 1 + 4 + 4
𝜎 =
5

Therefore variance = 6.8

 STANDARD DEVIATION
• Once we have found the Variance of the data set its easy to find the
Standard Deviation
• Standard Deviation simply equals the square root of the Variance:

9 + 16 + 1 + 4 + 4
Free Throws
X-𝒙
$ 𝟐 𝜎/ =
(X − 𝒙
$) 5
Made
𝜎 /= 6.8
11 3 9
𝜎 = 6.8 = 2.6
4 -4 16
9 1 1
Therefore, Standard Deviation = 2.6
6 -2 4
10 2 4
 TRY IT OUT

Find the Variance and Standard deviation of the following data set:
{10, 12, 14, 15, 18, 20, 23}
 TRY IT OUT
Find the Variance and Standard deviation of the following data set:
{10, 12, 14, 15, 18, 20, 23}

𝟐
x X-𝒙
$ (X − 𝒙
$) )*&.*&<&.&<&.*&<-
Variance = = 18
10 -6 36 +
12 -4 16
14 -2 4 Standard Deviation = 18 = 4.24
15 -1 1
18 2 4
20 4 16
23 7 49
 LETS TEST YOUR LEARNING!
FINAL CHECK

• Find the Mean, Median, Mode and create a Box-and-Whisker Plot for the
following data set, {33, 34, 31, 27, 22}

• Find the Variance and Standard Deviation for the following data set,
{7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42}
• Then determine if the values are near the measures of central tendency or if
they are if they are spread out from the center