D e P A R T M e N T o F S T A T I S T I C S & O - R

Depar tment of Statistics & O.R.
Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh
BA/BSc I Semester
Descriptive Statistics (STB 151)
by
Dr. Haseeb Athar

Unit -2
Measure of Central Tendency
2 Lecture notes by Dr. Haseeb Athar, Department of Statistics & O.R., A.M.U., Aligarh, India
Measures of Central tendency
Measures of Location or Central Tendency or Measure of Location gives an idea about the central
part of the distribution.
The main objective of Measure of Central Tendency are:
 To condense data in a single value.
 To facilitate comparison between data
Requisites of a Good Measure of Central Tendency
(i) It should be rigidly defined.
(ii) It should be simple to understand and easy to calculate.
(iii) It should be based upon all values of given data.
(iv) It should be capable of further mathematical treatment.
(v) It should have sampling stability.
(vi) It should be not be unduly affected by extreme values.
There are different types of averages, each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Measure of Central Tendency
Location (positional average) Mathematical Average
Partition values Mode Arithmetic Geometric Harmonic

Mean Mean Mean
Median Quartiles Deciles Percentiles
1. Arithmetic Mean:
Case I: Discrete data
Arithmetic Mean (A.M.) of a set of observations is their sum divided by the number of observations
Let are observations, then
Example 1: Let there are five numbers 5, 4, 3, 7, 6, then arithmetic mean is
Case II: Discrete or ungrouped frequency distribution
In case of frequency distribution , where is the frequency of the variable , then
where
Example 2: Let observations and their frequencies are given as
X: 3 5 7 8 9 10
f: 2 3 1 2 3 2
Then arithmetic mean is calculated as
Case III: Grouped or continuous frequency distribution
In case of grouped or continuous frequency distribution, is taken as the midpoint of the

corresponding class.
Example 3a: Distribution of marks of students in a class are given as below:

Marks: 0 - 10 10 - 20 20 - 30 30 - 40 40 - 50
No. of Students 5 3 9 2 6
Find the arithmetic mean.
Solution:
Marks No. of Mid Point
Students
0 - 10 5 5 25
10 - 20 3 15 45
20 - 30 9 25 225
30 - 40 2 35 70
40 - 50 6 45 270
25 635
Therefore, arithmetic mean is
Example 3b: The following table gives the frequency distribution of the number of orders received
each day during the past 50 days at the office of a mail order:
No. of Order: 10 - 12 13 - 15 16 - 18 19 - 21
Frequency : 4 12 20 14
Find the arithmetic mean.

Solution:
No. of Order Frequency Mid Point
10 - 12 4 11 44
13 - 15 12 14 168
16 - 18 20 17 340
19 - 21 14 20 280
50 832
Therefore, arithmetic mean is
Properties of Arithmetic Mean:
1. Arithmetic mean is dependent of change of origin and scale.

Example 4: Calculate mean marks of students by short cut method using data given in example 3.
Marks No. of Mid Point

(CI) Students
0 - 10 5 5 -2 -10
10 - 20 3 15 -1 -3
20 - 30 9 25 0 0
30 - 40 2 35 1 2
40 - 50 6 45 2 12
25 1
Here and .
Then,
Therefore,
2. Algebraic sum of the deviation of a set of values from their arithmetic mean is always zero.
That is
where is the arithmetic mean.

Example 5: Find the sum of the deviations of the values 3, 4, 6, 8,14 from their mean
3  4  6  8  14 35
X   7
5 5
 X i  X   (3  7)  4  7  6  7  8  7  14  7  0
n
i 1
3. The sum of the square of the deviation of a set of values is minimum when taken about mean.
For the frequency distribution ,
let , A is any arbitrary point.
Then Z is minimum when .
4. Mean of combined (composite) series
Let there be k series having observations respectively
Series Nos. 1 2 3  k


Observations 
    

Means 
then the mean of combined series is given by
and for , the above formula reduces to
Example 6: In a class average weight of 25 boys is 48 kg. and average weight of 15 girls is 40 kg.
Find the average weight of students in the class.
Solution: Here
Therefore, the average weight of students is
Example 7: In a test of English average marks of Arts student is 7 and average marks of science
students is 9. The mean marks of all the students is 8. Calculate the percentage(%) of Arts and
Science students.
Solution: Let
Therefore,
or
That means the percentage of Arts and Science students are 50 each.
5. Weighted Average or Weighted Mean

A method of computing a kind of arithmetic mean of a set of numbers in which some elements of the
set carry more importance (weight) than others.
Let there be n observations and are their respective weights in the set.
Then weighted mean is calculated using the formula
Example 8: Grades are often computed using a weighted average.

Suppose that homework counts 10%, quizzes 20% and tests 70%.
If Mr. Zaid has a homework grade of 92, a quiz grade of 68, and a test grade of 81, then Zaid's overall
grade is
6. Trimmed Mean
p “ ” p and the
smallest set of values. For example, the t% trimmed mean is found by eliminating the largest t% and
~
smallest t% and computing the average of the remaining values. It is denoted by X .
Example 9: Find the sample mean and the 10% trimmed mean of the following data set
0.28, 0.32, 0.36, 0.37, 0.38, 0.42, 0.43, 0.43, 0.47, 0.53.
Solution:
The sample mean is
0.28  0.32  0.36  0.37  0.38  0.42  0.43  0.43  0.47  0.53
X
10
 0.3990
To compute the 10% trimmed mean, we remove the smallest value and the largest value because
there are 10 values. Hence
~ 0.32  0.36  0.37  0.38  0.42  0.43  0.43  0.47
X
8
 0.3975
Remark:
The trimmed mean is, in general, more insensitive to outliers (extreme values) than the sample mean.
Merits of Arithmetic Mean:

1. It is rigidly defined.
2. It is easy to understand and easy to calculate.
3. It is based upon all values of the given data.
4. It is capable of further mathematical treatment.
5. It is not much affected by sampling fluctuations.
Demerits of Arithmetic Mean:
1. It cannot be calculated if any observation is missing.
2. It cannot be calculated for the data with open-end classes.
3. It is affected by extreme values.
4. It cannot be located graphically.
5. It may be number which is not present in the data.
6. It cannot be calculated for the data representing qualitative characteristic.
Solved Examples:
Problem 1: The sum of deviations of a certain numbers of observations measured from 4 is 72 and
the sum of deviations of observations measured from 7 is -3. Find the number of observations and
their mean.
Solution:
Let be the required number of observations.
We have given that
, therefore (i)
and , therefore (ii)
Subtracting the above two equations we get, and hence .
Therefore, required mean is given by
Problem 2: The mean weight of 98 students is found to be 50 lbs. It is later discovered that the
frequency of the class interval (30- 40) was wrongly taken as 8 instead of 10. Calculate the correct
mean.
Solution:
We have given that
Incorrect mean and
Therefore,
Incorrect mean
Therefore,
Now,
Also the
Therefore, the correct mean
Problem 3: The average marks of three batches of students having 70, 50 and 30 students
respectively are 50, 55 and 45. Find the average marks of all the 150 students, taken together.
Solution:
We have given that
Batch I II III
Average Marks
No. of Students
Let be the average marks of all 150 students taken together.

Therefore,
or, marks.
Practice Exercises:
1. The arithmetic mean of 3 numbers is 60. If two numbers are 50 and 60, what is the third number?
2. If the mean of numbers 28, x, 42, 78 and 104 is 62, then what is the mean of 128, 255, 511, 1023
and x.
3. The average of nine numbers is 9. When a tenth number is added the average of ten number is
also 9. What is the tenth number?
4. The arithmetic mean of a set of 10 numbers is 20. If each number is first multiplied by 2 and then
increased by 5, then what is the mean of new numbers?
5. The mean of 25 observations is 36. The mean of first 13 observations is 32 and that of last 13
observations is 39. What is the value of 13th observation?
6. The average age of 06 persons living in a house is 23.5 years. Three of them are majors and their
average age is 42 years. The difference in ages of the three minor children is same. What is the
mean of the ages of minor children?
7. The mean age of combined group of men and women is 25 years. If the mean age of group of men
is 26 and that of group of women is 21, then what is the percentage of men and women in the
group?
Median
Median of a distribution is the value of the variable which divides it into two equal parts, that is the
value such that the number of observations above it is equal to the number of observations below it.
The median is a positional average.
Application:
Median is only average to be used while dealing with qualitative data which cannot be measured
quantitatively but can be arranged in ascending or descending order of magnitude.
Arrange all the observations in ascending or descending order.
 If the number of observations are odd, then
Example 10: Let the observations are 3, 2, 5, 1, 9, 8, 7

Then arrange these observations like
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 Ascending order
or 9, 8, 7, 5, 3, 2, 1 Descending order
Here , so
 If the number of observations are even, then
Example 11: Let the observations are 3, 2, 5, 1, 9, 8, 7, 6
Then arrange these observations like
1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Ascending order
or 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1 Descending order
Here , so
Case II: Discrete frequency distribution

Steps for calculating median
 Find where
 Locate cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than
 The value of corresponding to that c.f. is the median
Example 12: Find median for the following data
1 3 3
3 2 5
4 9 14
6 6 20
9 2 22
10 5 27
12 9 36
15 4 40
Solution: Here

 Cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than 20 is 22.
 The value of corresponding to 22 is 9.
Therefore,
Median = 9
Case III: Continuous frequency distribution (grouped data)
Steps for calculating median
 Find where
 Locate cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than
 The class corresponding to that c.f. is the median class
 Then use following formula to calculate median
where,
Example 13: Find the median wage (salary) per day of workers from the following data
Wages in dollar 20 - 30 30 - 40 40 - 50 50 - 60 60 - 70
No. of Workers 3 5 20 10 2
Solution:
Wages No. of Workers
(in dollar)
20 - 30 3 3
30 - 40 5 8
40 - 50 20 28
50 - 60 10 39
60 - 70 2 40
Here N = 40, therefore


 Cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than 20 is 28
 The class corresponding to 28 is (40 - 50). This is the median class,
 Thus the
Merits:
1. It is rigidly defined.
2. It is easy to calculate and understand
3. It can be located merely by inspection.
4. It is not all affected by extreme values.
5. It can be calculated for the distributions with open-end classes.
Demerits:
1. In case of even number of observations median cannot be determined exactly.
2. It is not based on all observations.
3. It is not suitable for algebraic treatment.
4. As compared to mean, it is affected much by fluctuations of sampling.
Quartiles: Three points which divide the whole distribution into four equal parts are called quartiles.
A B
Q1 Q2 Q3
Calculation of Quartiles:
 The First quartile Q1 is the value such that 25% of the ranked data are smaller and 75% are
larger.
 X n1 , when n is odd
 4

Q1    
 1  X n  X n  , when n is even
2  1 
  4 4 
 The Second quartile Q2 is the Median.

 The First quartile Q3 is the value such that 75% of the ranked data are smaller and 25% are
larger.
 X 3( n1) , when n is odd
 4

Q3    
 1  X 3n  X 3n  , when n is even
2  1 
  4 4 
Example 14: Find the first quartile, second quartile (median) and third quartile of the following data
of scores:
12 25 15 5 22 7 14 36 53 30 42
Solution: First, arrange the data in ascending order:
5 7 12 14 15 22 25 30 36 42 53
Q1 Q2 (Median) Q3
Q1  X (n1)/4  X (111)/4  X 3  12
Q2  X 2(n1)/4  X 2(111)/4  X 6  22  Median
Q3  X 3(n1)/4  X 3(111)/4  X 9  36
Example 15: Find the first quartile, median and third quartile, if 65 is added to Example 14.
5 7 12 14 15 22 25 30 36 42 53
Q1 Q2 (Median) Q3
1  1 1
Q1   X n  X n    X 3  X 4   (12  14)  13
2 1  2 2
 4 4 
1  1 1
Q2   X 2n  X 2n    X 6  X 7   (22  25)  23.5  Median
2 1  2 2
 4 4 
1  1 1
Q3   X 3n  X 3n    X 9  X10   (36  42)  39
2 1  2 2
 4 4 
When the subscript of X is not a whole number (whether n is odd or even), then we use the following
steps
Step1: Calculate Q1 and Q3 using the formulae
Q1  X ( n1) and Q3  X 3( n1)

4 4
Step 2: Select the ranked positions immediately below and above the number calculated.
For example, for 10 values, Q1  X ( n1)  X 11  X 2.75 . So select second and third ranked values.
4 4
With these values, do the following:
 Multiply the larger ranked value by the decimal fraction of the original result (0.75 in the
example).
Multiply the smaller ranked value by 1 minus the decimal fraction of the original result (0.25
for the example, because 1-0.75 is 0.25).
 Add the two products to determine the quartile value
Special case: If the two ranked values selected be the same number, the quartile is that number and
above two multiplication and addition can be skipped.
Example 16: Find the first and third quartiles of the following data values:
52 39 44 39 31 40 43 35 44 29
29 31 35 39 39 40 43 44 44 52
Q1 Q2 (Median) Q3
 Calculate Q1  X (n1)  X (101)  X 2.75

4 4
The second and third ranked values are 31 and 35.
1. Multiply the larger ranked value by the decimal fraction of the original result, we get
35  0.75  26.25
2. Multiply the smaller ranked value by 1 minus the decimal fraction of the original result, we get
31 0.25  7.75
3. Therefore final Q1  26.25  7.75  34
 Calculate Q3  X 3( n1)  X 3(101)  X 8.25

4 4
The eighth and ninth ranked values are 44 and 44.
44  0.25  11
44  0.75  33
3. Therefore final Q3  11  33  44
OR
Since eighth and ninth ranked values are same, that is 44. Therefore Q3  44
Example 17: Find the first and third quartiles of the following data values:
52 39 44 39 31 40 43 35 44
31 35 39 39 40 43 44 44 52
Q1 Q2 (Median Q3
 Calculate Q1  X ( n1)  X (91)  X 2.5

4 4
The second and third ranked values are 35 and 39.
39  0.5  19.50
35  0.5  17.50
3. Therefore final Q1  19.50  17.50  37
 Calculate Q3  X 3( n1)  X 3(91)  X 7.5
4 4
The seventh and eighth ranked values are 44 and 44.
44  0.5  22
44  0.5  22
3. Therefore final Q3  22  22  44
OR
Since eighth and ninth ranked values are same, that is 44. Therefore Q3  44
Case II: Discrete frequency distribution (ungrouped data)
Steps for calculating quartiles
 Find where
 See cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than
 The value of corresponding to that c.f. is the
Example 18: Calculate all quartiles for the given data
1 3 3
2 2 5
3 9 14
4 6 20
5 2 22
6 5 27
7 4 31
8 2 33
9 3 36
10 4 40
Solution: Here , thus


 Cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than 10, 20 and 30 are 14, 22, 31 respectively.
 The value of corresponding to 14, 22, 31 are 3, 5, 7 respectively
Therefore,
Case III: Continuous frequency distribution (grouped data)
 Find where
 The class corresponding to that c.f. is the given quartile class

 Then use following formula to calculate quartiles
where,
Example 19: Calculate first and third quartiles of wage (salary) per day of workers from the
following data
Wages in dollar 20 - 30 30 - 40 40 - 50 50 - 60 60 - 70 70 - 80
No. of Workers 5 8 17 11 4 3
Solution:
Wages No. of Workers
(in dollar)
20 - 30 5 5
30 - 40 8 13
40 - 50 17 30
50 - 60 11 41
60 - 70 4 45
70 - 80 3 48
Here N = 48, therefore

 and
 Cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than 12 is 13, so first quartile class is 30 - 40.
 Cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than 36 is 41, so third quartile class is 50 - 60.
 Thus the
and
Deciles: The nine points which divide the whole distribution into ten equal parts are called deciles.
A B
D1 D2 D9
Method of Calculating Deciles

Case I: Discrete frequency distribution (ungrouped data)
Steps for calculating deciles
 Find where
Case II: Continuous frequency distribution (grouped data)

 Find where
 The class corresponding to that c.f. is the given decile class

 Then use following formula to calculate deciles
where,
Percentiles: The ninety-nine points which divide the whole distribution into hundred equal parts are
called percentiles.
A B
P1 P2 P99
Method of Calculating Percentiles

Case I: Discrete frequency distribution (ungrouped data)
Steps for calculating deciles
 Find where
 Find where
 The class corresponding to that c.f. is the given percentile class

 Then use following formula to calculate deciles
where,
Example: In Example 19, calculate D4 , D7 , P30 and P78 .
Mode
Mode is the value which occurs most frequently in a set of observations.
Case I: Discrete frequency distribution
In case of discrete frequency distribution, mode is the value, which corresponds to maximum
frequency.
Example 20: Find mode for the following data
1 4
2 9
3 16
4 25
5 22
6 15
7 7
8 3
Here maximum frequency is 25 and value corresponding to 25 is 4, therefore mode is 4.

Note: In any one or more of the following cases
 If the maximum frequency is repeated.
 If the maximum frequency occurs in the very beginning or at the end of the distribution.
 If there are irregularities in the distribution.
The value of mode is determined by the method of grouping.
Example 21: Find mode of the following distribution
X: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
f: 3 8 15 23 35 40 32 28 20 45 14 6
Solution:
Here irregularities in the distribution may be observed. So mode will be calculated by grouping
method.
(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi)
1 3
11
2 8 26
23
3 15 46
38
4 23 73
58
98
5 35
75 107
6 40
72 100
7 32
60 80
8 28
48 93
9 20 79
65
10 45 59 65
11 14
20
12 6
Analysis Table
Col. Max. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
No. freq.
(i) 45
(ii) 75
(iii) 72
(iv) 98
(v) 107
(vi) 100
Total 1 3 5 3 1 1
Therefore, Mode = 6
 Identify the modal class corresponding to the maximum frequency.
 Calculate the mode using the following formula
where,
Example 22: Calculate mode of the following data
Class Interval frequency

(CI)
00 - 10 5
10 - 20 8
20 - 30 7
30 - 40 12
40 - 50 28
50 - 60 20
60 - 70 10
70 - 80 10
Solution: Here maximum frequency is 28, therefore modal class is 40 - 50.

Now,
Remarks:
1. In any one or more of the cases as defined for discrete case modal class is determined by the
method of grouping.
2. If the method of grouping gives the modal class which does not correspond to the maximum
frequency or in some cases , in such cases mode is obtained by using formula
Merits:
1. It is easy to understand and easy to calculate.
2. It is not affected by extreme values or sampling fluctuations.
3. It can be located just by inspection in many cases.
4. It is always present within data.
5. It is applicable for both quantitative and qualitative data.
Demerits:
1. It is not rigidly defined.
2. It is not based upon all values of the given data.
3. It is not capable of further mathematical treatment.
Relationship Between Mean, Median and Mode
 In positively skewed distribution, the presence of exceptionally high values affect mean more than
median and mode. Therefore
Mean > Median > Mode
 In negatively skewed distribution, the presence of exceptionally low values depress the mean
most, followed by median and mode. Thus
Mean < Median < Mode
In the above two situation, it can be observed that median always lies between mean and mode.
Thus, if the number of observations in any set of data is large enough to yield a fairly smooth and
moderately skewed distribution, the mean, median and mode are empirically related as
Mode = 3 Median - 2 Mean
 In the case of symmetrical distribution, the mean, median and mode coincide. That is
Mean = Median = Mode
Example 23: The marks of 36 students in an entrance test are given below:
Grades (Less than): 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

No. of Students 3 7 13 23 29 33 36
Find Mean, Median and Mode. It is noted that minimum marks of any student is 30.
Solution: The given data is in cumulative frequency form. First, we shall convert this into simple
frequency table.
X  65
Grades f cf X d fd
h
30 - 40 3 3 35 3 9
40 - 50 4 7 45 2 8
50 - 60 6 13 55 1 6
60 - 70 10 23 65 00 00
70 - 80 6 29 75 1 6
80 - 90 4 33 85 2 8
90 - 100 3 36 95 3 9
f  36  fd  0
Mean
X  A  hd
 A h
 fd  65
f
Median
N
Here cf just greater than  18 is 23. Thus, median class is 60 - 70.
2
Therefore
h N  10
Median  lm  m   C pm   60  (18  13)  65
fm  2  10
Mode
By inspection mode lies in the class 60 - 70. Therefore
f m  f p 10  6
Mode  lm   hm  60   10  65
2 f m  f p  f s 20  6  6
Since Mean = Median = Mode. Therefore distribution is symmetrical.
Geometric Mean
Geometric Mean (GM) of a set of observations is the nth root of their product.
Let are observations, then
or
For example, for a sample of two observations 4 and 9
Example 23: Suppose hypothetical weekly income of 9 families living in a particular locality are 70,
15, 75, 500, 8, 45, 250, 40 and 36. Compute geometric mean.
Solution:
70 1.8451
15 1.1761
75 1.8751
500 2.6990
8 0.9031
45 1.6532
250 2.3979
40 1.6021
36 1.5563
Therefore
Geometric Mean (GM)
Example 24: The annual percentage change in the sales of a popular brand of toys for five successive
years was observed as 19.5, 20.8, 30.6, 28.5 and 27.2. Find the average annual percentage change in
sales.
Solution:
Years %age change
1 19.5 119.5 2.07740
2 20.8 120.8 2.08202
3 30.6 130.6 2.11591
4 28.5 128.5 2.10891
5 27.2 127.2 2.10451
Therefore
Geometric Mean (GM)
It means that sales have increased by (125.26 - 100.00) = 25.26 %

Case II: Discrete frequency distribution
In case of frequency distribution , where is the frequency of the variable , the
geometric mean is calculated by using formula
or ,
n
where N   fi
i 1
Note: For computation of weighted geometric mean fi is replaced with the weight of i th
observation wi .
Example 25: Suppose there are five observations 5, 12, 20, 50, 90 and their corresponding
frequency in the data set are 15, 10, 7, 4 and 2. Compute geometric mean the given data set.
Solution:
Xi fi log X i fi log X i
5 16 0.6990 11.1840
12 11 1.0792 11.8712
20 7 1.3010 09.1070
50 4 1.6990 06.7960
90 2 1.9031 03.8062
 fi  40  log fi  6.6813  fi log X i  42.7640
  fi log xi   42.7640 
GM  Antilog    Antilog  
  fi   40 
GM  Antilog(1.0691)=11.78
Example 26: Obtain geometric mean of the following distribution
Class Intervals 10 - 20 20 - 30 30 - 40 40 - 50 50 - 60
Frequencies 5 8 12 10 5
Solution:
Class Interval Xi fi log X i fi log X i
10-20 15 5 1.17609 5.8804

20-30 25 8 1.39794 11.1835
30-40 35 12 1.54407 18.5288
40-50 45 10 1.65321 16.5321
50-60 55 5 1.74036 08.7018
 fi  40  fi log X i  60.8266
  fi log xi   60.8266 
GM  Antilog    Antilog  
  fi   40 
GM  Antilog(1.5206)=33.16
Computation of Average Population Growth Rate
Example 27: If the population of a city has recorded a growth rate of 20% in the first decade, 30% in
the second decade, and 40% in the third decade. Obtain average population growth rate.
Decade Population Growth Population at the End log X i

Rate of Decade
First 20% 120 2.0792
Second 30% 130 2.1139
Third 40% 140 2.1461
Total  fi log X i  6.3392
Therefore
1   6.3392 
GM  Antilog   log xi   Antilog  
n   3 
GM  Antilog(2.1131)=129.7
It means that the city population over the three decade period has increased at an average rate of
(129.7-100) = 29.7 per cent per decade
Combined Geometric Mean

Let and be the geometric means of two series of sizes and , then the geometric means of
the combined series is given by
 n log G1  n2 log G2 
or GM c  Antilog  1 
 n1  n2 
The above formulae for calculating combined geometric means of k series can be generalized as
 n log G1  n2 log G2   nk log Gk 
GM c  Antilog  1 .
 n1  n2   nk 
Example 28: The geometric mean of two sets of data consisting of 20 and 25 observations was
reported to be 115.80 and 180.50, respectively. Find the combined geometric mean.
Solution: Given that
n1  20
n2  25
G1  115.80
G2  180.50
Therefore
 20  log115.80  25  log180.50 
GM c  Antilog  
 20  25 
 Antilog(2.17077)=148.19
Uses:
1. To find rate of population growth and rate of interest.
2. In construction of index number.
Harmonic Mean
Harmonic mean of the given observations is defined as the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean
of the reciprocals of the given set of observations.
1 1 1
If X1, X 2 ,..., X n are n sample observations, with their reciprocals , ,..., , then the
X1 X 2 Xn
Harmonic Mean (HM) is given by
1 n
HM   .
1 1 1 1  n 1
 ,
n  X1 X 2
,..., 
Xn 
X
i 1 i
In the case of ungrouped frequency distribution

1 N n
HM   , N   fi
1 f1 f 2 f  n f i 1

N
,
X1 X 2
,..., n 
Xn 
 Xi
i 1 i
In the case of grouped frequency distribution X i , i  1,2,..., n are the mid points of the class
intervals.
Note: For computation of weighted harmonic mean fi is replaced with the weight of i th observation
wi .
Uses
 The harmonic mean is often used to calculate the average of the ratios or rates. It is the most
appropriate measure for ratios and rates because it equalizes the weights of each data point. For
instance, the arithmetic mean places a high weight to large data points, while geometric mean
gives a lower weight to the smaller data points.
 It is most appropriate average where unit of observation (such as per day, per hour, per unit, per
worker etc.) remains the same and act being performed, such as covering distance.
Relationship between AM, GM and HM
If we compute these three averages for the same data set, then we get the relation
AM  GM  HM
provided that the observations comprising a set of data are not same.
If the set of data has the same observations, then
AM  GM  HM
Example 29: A car rallyist had to cover a total distance of 500 km spread over four zones. He
covered the first zone distance of 120 km at a speed of 80 kmph, the second zone distance of 160 km
at a speed of 110 kmph, third zone distance of 140 km at a speed of 140 kmph, and fourth zone
distance of 80 km at a speed of 160 kmph. Find the average speed at which he drove the car to cover
the entire distance.
Solution: We know that
Speed = (Total distance)/Time taken
Here Total distance = 500 km
 120 160 140 80 

and Time taken =       4.5 hrs.
 80 110 140 160 
Therefore
500
Average Speed =   111.11 km/hr
4.5
which is the weighted harmonic mean.

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Depar tment of Statistics & O.R.

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh

Descriptive Statistics (STB 151)

Dr. Haseeb Athar

Measure of Central Tendency

Location (positional average) Mathematical Average

Partition values Mode Arithmetic Geometric Harmonic

Median Quartiles Deciles Percentiles

Example 1: Let there are five numbers 5, 4, 3, 7, 6, then arithmetic mean is

Case III: Grouped or continuous frequency distribution

In case of grouped or continuous frequency distribution, is taken as the midpoint of the

Example 3a: Distribution of marks of students in a class are given as below:

Therefore, arithmetic mean is

Find the arithmetic mean.

Therefore, arithmetic mean is

Properties of Arithmetic Mean:

1. Arithmetic mean is dependent of change of origin and scale.

Marks No. of Mid Point

where is the arithmetic mean.

then the mean of combined series is given by

and for , the above formula reduces to

5. Weighted Average or Weighted Mean

Example 8: Grades are often computed using a weighted average.

Merits of Arithmetic Mean:

Therefore, the correct mean

Let be the average marks of all 150 students taken together.

Example 10: Let the observations are 3, 2, 5, 1, 9, 8, 7

 If the number of observations are even, then

Case II: Discrete frequency distribution

Example 12: Find median for the following data

Steps for calculating median

Here N = 40, therefore

 The Second quartile Q2 is the Median.

Q2  X 2(n1)/4  X 2(111)/4  X 6  22  Median

Q1  X ( n1) and Q3  X 3( n1)

 Calculate Q1  X (n1)  X (101)  X 2.75

 Calculate Q3  X 3( n1)  X 3(101)  X 8.25

 Calculate Q1  X ( n1)  X (91)  X 2.5

Solution: Here , thus

 See cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than

 The class corresponding to that c.f. is the given quartile class

Here N = 48, therefore

Method of Calculating Deciles

 See cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than

 The value of corresponding to that c.f. is the

Case II: Continuous frequency distribution (grouped data)

 See cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than

 The class corresponding to that c.f. is the given decile class

Method of Calculating Percentiles

 See cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than

 The value of corresponding to that c.f. is the

 See cumulative frequency (c.f.) just greater than

 The class corresponding to that c.f. is the given percentile class

Example: In Example 19, calculate D4 , D7 , P30 and P78 .

Here maximum frequency is 25 and value corresponding to 25 is 4, therefore mode is 4.

Class Interval frequency

Solution: Here maximum frequency is 28, therefore modal class is 40 - 50.