04 - Measures of Central Tendency Mean, Median, and Mode - Statistics by Jim

Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median, and Mode - Statistics By Jim
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Measures of Central Tendency: Mean,
Median, and Mode I’ll help you
By Jim Frost — 105 Comments intuitively
understand
statistics by
focusing on
A measure of central tendency is a summary statistic that represents the center
concepts
point or typical value of a dataset. These measures indicate where most values
and using plain English so you can
in a distribution fall and are also referred to as the central location of a concentrate on understanding your
distribution. You can think of it as the tendency of data to cluster around a results.
middle value. In statistics , the three most common measures of central
Read More…
tendency are the mean , median , and mode . Each of these measures calculates
the location of the central point using a different method.
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Most articles that you’ll read about the mean, median, and mode focus on how
you calculate each one. I’m going to take a slightly different approach to start
out. My philosophy throughout my blog is to help you intuitively grasp statistics
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by focusing on concepts. Consequently, I’m going to start by illustrating the
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central point of several datasets graphically—so you understand the goal. Then,
we’ll move on to choosing the best measure of central tendency for your data
and the calculations.
The three distributions below represent different data conditions. In each

distribution, look for the region where the most common values fall. Even
though the shapes and type of data are different, you can find that central
location. That’s the area in the distribution where the most common values are
located.
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Measures of Central
As the graphs highlight, you can see where most values tend to occur. That’s the Tendency: Mean, Median,
concept. Measures of central tendency represent this idea with a value. Coming and Mode
up, you’ll learn that as the distribution and kind of data changes, so does the best
measure of central tendency. Consequently, you need to know the type of data Normal Distribution in
you have, and graph it, before choosing a measure of central tendency! Statistics
Related posts: Guide to Data Types and How to Graph Them

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The central tendency of a distribution represents one characteristic of a Detection, and Solutions
distribution. Another aspect is the variability around that central value. While
measures of variability is the topic of a different article (link below), this
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property describes how far away the data points tend to fall from the center. The Overall Significance in
graph below shows how distributions with the same central tendency (mean = Regression Analysis
100) can actually be quite different. The panel on the left displays a distribution
that is tightly clustered around the mean, while the distribution on the right is
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more spread out. It is crucial to understand that the central tendency summarizes Effects in Statistics
only one aspect of a distribution and that it provides an incomplete picture by
itself.
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Related post: Measures of Variability: Range, Interquartile Range, Variance,

and Standard Deviation
Mean
The mean is the arithmetic average , and it is probably the measure of central
tendency that you are most familiar. Calculating the mean is very simple. You
just add up all of the values and divide by the number of observations in your
dataset.
The calculation of the mean incorporates all values in the data. If you change
any value, the mean changes. However, the mean doesn’t always locate the
center of the data accurately. Observe the histograms below where I display the
mean in the distributions.
In a symmetric distribution, the mean locates the center accurately.
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However, in a skewed distribution, the mean can miss the mark. In the
histogram above, it is starting to fall outside the central area. This problem
occurs because outliers have a substantial impact on the mean. Extreme values
in an extended tail pull the mean away from the center. As the distribution
becomes more skewed, the mean is drawn further away from the center.
Consequently, it’s best to use the mean as a measure of the central tendency
when you have a symmetric distribution.
When to use the mean: Symmetric distribution, Continuous data
Related post: Using Histograms to Understand Your Data
Median
The median is the middle value. It is the value that splits the dataset in half. To
find the median, order your data from smallest to largest, and then find the data
point that has an equal amount of values above it and below it. The method for
locating the median varies slightly depending on whether your dataset has an
even or odd number of values. I’ll show you how to find the median for both
cases. In the examples below, I use whole numbers for simplicity, but you can
have decimal places.
In the dataset with the odd number of observations, notice how the number 12
has six values above it and six below it. Therefore, 12 is the median of this
dataset.
When there is an even number of values, you count in to the two innermost
values and then take the average. The average of 27 and 29 is 28. Consequently,
28 is the median of this dataset.
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Outliers and skewed data have a smaller effect on the median. To understand
why, imagine we have the Median dataset below and find that the median is 46.
However, we discover data entry errors and need to change four values, which
are shaded in the Median Fixed dataset. We’ll make them all significantly
higher so that we now have a skewed distribution with large outliers.
As you can see, the median doesn’t change at all. It is still 46. Unlike the mean,
the median value doesn’t depend on all the values in the dataset. Consequently,
when some of the values are more extreme, the effect on the median is smaller.
Of course, with other types of changes, the median can change. When you have
a skewed distribution, the median is a better measure of central tendency than
the mean.
Comparing the mean and median
Now, let’s test the median on the symmetrical and skewed distributions to see
how it performs, and I’ll include the mean on the histograms so we can make
comparisons.
In a symmetric distribution, the mean and median both find the center
accurately. They are approximately equal.
In a skewed distribution, the outliers in the tail pull the mean away from the
center towards the longer tail. For this example, the mean and median differ by
over 9000, and the median better represents the central tendency for the
distribution.
These data are based on the U.S. household income for 2006. Income is the
classic example of when to use the median because it tends to be skewed. The
median indicates that half of all incomes fall below 27581, and half are above it.
For these data, the mean overestimates where most household incomes fall.
When to use the median: Skewed distribution, Continuous data, Ordinal

data
Mode
The mode is the value that occurs the most frequently in your data set. On a bar
chart, the mode is the highest bar. If the data have multiple values that are tied
for occurring the most frequently, you have a multimodal distribution. If no
value repeats, the data do not have a mode.
In the dataset below, the value 5 occurs most frequently, which makes it the
mode. These data might represent a 5-point Likert scale.
Typically, you use the mode with categorical, ordinal, and discrete data. In fact,
the mode is the only measure of central tendency that you can use with
categorical data —such as the most preferred flavor of ice cream. However, with
categorical data, there isn’t a central value because you can’t order the groups.
With ordinal and discrete data, the mode can be a value that is not in the center.
Again, the mode represents the most common value.
In the graph of service quality, Very Satisfied is the mode of this distribution
because it is the most common value in the data. Notice how it is at the extreme
end of the distribution. I’m sure the service providers are pleased with these
results!
Finding the mode for continuous data
In the continuous data below, no values repeat, which means there is no mode.
With continuous data, it is unlikely that two or more values will be exactly equal
because there are an infinite number of values between any two values.
When you are working with the raw continuous data, don’t be surprised if there
is no mode. However, you can find the mode for continuous data by locating the
maximum value on a probability distribution plot. If you can identify a
probability distribution that fits your data, find the peak value and use it as the
mode.
The probability distribution plot displays a lognormal distribution that has a

mode of 16700. This distribution corresponds to the U.S. household income
example in the median section.
When to use the mode: Categorical data , Ordinal data, Count data,
Probability Distributions
Which is Best—the Mean, Median, or Mode?

When you have a symmetrical distribution for continuous data, the mean,
median, and mode are equal. In this case, analysts tend to use the mean because
it includes all of the data in the calculations. However, if you have a skewed
distribution, the median is often the best measure of central tendency.
When you have ordinal data , the median or mode is usually the best choice. For
categorical data, you have to use the mode.
In cases where you are deciding between the mean and median as the better
measure of central tendency, you are also determining which types of statistical
hypothesis tests are appropriate for your data—if that is your ultimate goal. I
have written an article that discusses when to use parametric (mean) and
nonparametric (median) hypothesis tests along with the advantages and
disadvantages of each type.
Analysts frequently use measures of central tendency to describe their datasets.

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Comments
Manhal Alnajar says
April 24, 2021 at 7:44 am
HI SIR Please i have a question, if there are fields enclosed in the middle of the
histogram and their values are zero, are they added to the denominator when
finding the mean and the standard deviation
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Nikhil says
April 17, 2021 at 2:28 pm
Thank you sir it was very helpful for my study.
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natasha rose says

April 14, 2021 at 8:58 am
is it always necessary to group a set of data when finding its mean, median, or
mode? why?
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Jim Frost says

April 15, 2021 at 4:29 pm
Hi Natasha, I don’t know what you mean by grouping a set of data? Do

mean creating subgroups in the data? If so, no, you don’t always have to
identify subgroups within a dataset. However, it can be informative in
some cases. It depends on your data. For example, with heights, it is
information to split the data by gender because men and women’s heights
tend to have different distributions. Understand the difference helps you
understand the subject area. However, your data might not have useful
subgroups. You’ll need to use subject-area knowledge to make the
determination.
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Sadashiv Borgaonkar says

January 20, 2021 at 12:10 am
Superb information
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davidwlocke says
December 28, 2020 at 10:40 pm
When the distribution is skewed, the mode will be the peak near the short tail.
The short tail is opposite the long tail. Those tails would be the tails associated
with the data from a single dimension.
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Mansi says
November 26, 2020 at 3:15 am
Can I ask question? How can I get the average if the data is like this: 10/15, 4/5,
4/5, 3/10, 15/20, 16/20,16/20, 12/20, 4/10. Can you help with this?
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Jim Frost says

Hi Mansi,
There’s two ways that come to mind.
You can convert to decimals and take the average. Or, if you want keep
them as fractions, convert them all to their equivalents with the lowest
common denominator (LCD). Then, simply take the average of the
numerators and place it over the LCD.
I hope that helps!
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sonia says
November 10, 2020 at 9:27 pm
Hello, is peak = mode?
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Jim Frost says

Hi Sonia,
Yes, on a bar chart or distribution plot, the peak is the mode.
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Anna Yanycheva says

Hi Jim! Thank you very much for very useful information. I have a question
regarding interpreting of the mode. I have a left-skewed distribution of
observations in my research so that the mean is not equal to the mode. For the
mean, I have an explanation, i.e. “most people prefer..”. Have you an idea how
I can interpret mode as the most frequent answer in the way I did it for the
mean? Thank you in advance!
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Karen says
October 28, 2020 at 3:13 pm
Hi Jim,
I like to listen to books while I multi-task. I was wondering if your eBook has
the read aloud capability?
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Jim Frost says

October 28, 2020 at 10:27 pm
Hi Karen,
I don’t have a dedicated audiobook if that’s what you’re asking. I believe

screen readers can read them.
I’ve considered audio books, but I often use so many graphs and other
statistical output that I wondered how effective they’d be.
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nekay says
October 27, 2020 at 5:06 am
HI Mr. Jim. I have aquestion. Why is it necessary to have more than 1 method
in measuring central tendency? Thank you in advance.
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amanda says
September 30, 2020 at 3:12 pm
What information does the central tendency leave out about the distribution?
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Jim Frost says

Hi Amanda,
Notably, the central tendency leaves out information about the variability
around the center. Read my post about measures of variability for more
information.
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RP Deka says
September 25, 2020 at 4:08 am
Thank you Sir

Very clear and comprehensive
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Md Afzal khan says

Very relevant information about central tendency.
Thanks
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Emikel says
July 29, 2020 at 11:20 am
Hello Jim,
Could you help me out? I posted a question for you to answer on July 8th. Your
help would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Emikel
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Jim Frost says

July 29, 2020 at 2:53 pm
Hi Emikel, sorry for the delay! I’ve replied to it!
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KECHLER POLYCARPE says

July 14, 2020 at 1:06 am
Hey Jim how’s your day going? Hope you’re healthy and well.
You said this… ” Consequently, you need to know the type of data you have,
and graph it, before choosing a measure of central tendency!” Is this a rule to
follow for all descriptive statistics and inference statistics tests that you must
visualize/graph before solving the statistical test? Or is it only when doing
descriptive statistics central tendency problems?
-Thank you
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Jim Frost says

July 14, 2020 at 2:30 pm
Hi Kechler,
Thanks! Doing well here! I hope all is well with you too!
Graphing is always crucial. In fact, I always say that statistics work the
best when you use graphs in conjunction with numerical output. That’s a
point that I make throughout my Introduction to Statistics ebook , which
would be a helpful read!
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MahNoor Ashrif says

July 9, 2020 at 5:02 am
im really disappointed my comments are not uploading here
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Jim Frost says

July 9, 2020 at 3:59 pm
Hi MahNoor, I looked through the comments I have and found that there
was one that wasn’t approved. I’ve approved that and will answer it
shortly. Sorry, sometimes a few comments slip through the cracks.
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Emikel says
July 8, 2020 at 4:26 pm
Hello Jim,
I need your help for a private project I’m working on. I’m using inferential
statistics for this project. I have five samples, which are of similar sizes. The
3rd sample is the largest sample with 58 items. The 1st sample is the smallest
sample with 36 items. The 2nd sample has 52 items, the 4th sample has 56
items, and the 5th sample has 42 items. The five samples’ total amounts, when
graphed, like look a normal distribution. All five samples come from the same
population. For the measures of central tendency, only the 3rd sample have a
distribution that is close to a normal distribution. I determined this by looking at
the 3rd sample graph and the mean, median, and mode are almost the same.
What is interesting is that for the first sample the median and mode are less than
or to the left of the mean. The median and mode continues to increase as I move
from one sample to the next sample in order (1st sample, 2nd sample, 3rd
sample, etc…). In the 5th sample, the median and mode are greater than or to
the right of the mean. So from the 1st sample to the 5th sample, the median and
mode moved from the left of the mean to the right of the mean. For the
measures of variation, the 1st sample, when compared to the other four samples
using the coefficient of variation (Standard deviation divided by the mean), has
the highest variation. The coefficient of variation decreases as I move from one
sample to the next sample in order (1st sample, 2nd sample, 3rd sample, etc…).
So, the 1st sample has the highest coefficient of variation and the 5th sample
has the lowest coefficient of variation. What is strange to me is that the 3rd
sample has a higher coefficient of variation, therefore more variation, than the
5th sample, even though the 3rd sample has an almost normal distribution. The
5th sample graph/distribution is not even close to a normal distribution. The 5th
sample graph/distribution is highly skewed to the left. The 1st sample
graph/distribution is highly skewed to the right. Did I make an error while
preparing these samples? Also, how do I connect the measures of central
tendency to the measures of variation (range, interquartile range, standard
deviation, and coefficient of variation) for each sample? More importantly, how
do I connect all five samples together to make a prediction? Is there some
statistical or mathematical equation available for me to use? I clearly see some
patterns and trends in the five samples, but I’m having a really difficult time
connecting the patterns and trends in the five samples together to make a
prediction. Any help you provide would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Emikel
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Jim Frost says

July 29, 2020 at 2:53 pm
Hi Emikel,
Sorry about the delay in replying! Without knowing the specifics, there’s
no way I can tell for sure whether an error occurred while preparing these
samples. You say these are drawn from the same population. Do you have
reason to believe that using your sampling method that the samples should
represent the population? Were these samples collected at different points
in time? If so, do you have any reason to believe the population itself is
changing over time?
It’s not unusual that successive random samples drawn from the same
population will have different properties. In fact, a key idea in inferential
statistics is that the specific sample a study draws from a population is
only one of an infinite number of samples that it could have obtained.
Hypothesis testing incorporates this into its calculations.
So, you need to determine if what you’re observing falls within the range
of normal fluctuations between samples or are they significantly different?
If you think the samples should follow a normal distribution, use a
normality test to see if some are truly different. Perform one-way ANOVA
to see if their means are significantly different. That sort of thing. You can
also perform a variances test to see if their standard deviations are
different. Again, some differences are entirely expected.
I’m not sure what the sample preparation method involves. However, if
you’re seeing a successive change in each sample, that is concerning. You
should investigate that process. Understand how the preparation process
could influence the data. There wouldn’t be a statistical test that tells you
how errors in the preparation method could affect the results.
So, try a mix of the statistical tests that I recommend and investigations of
the preparation method. And, bear in mind that some differences between
random samples drawn from the same population are entirely expected.
You need to know determine whether the differences you observe go
beyond what is expected by random chance.
I hope that helps!
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Harrem Khalid says

July 7, 2020 at 3:03 pm
https://www.pewresearch.org/methods/u-s-survey-research/questionnaire-
design/
Like this survey they use both open ended and close ended response. Can you
please guide how this open ended response can affect central tendency ! Its my
assignment question actually! And i am unable to understand it….
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Jim Frost says

July 7, 2020 at 3:58 pm
Hi Harrem,
That document seems to describe what you’d need to know. They even
show an example where having an open-ended vs. closed-ended question
affect the results. I’d read that document more closely. It looks like a great
document to me.
In terms of the central tendency, it seems to me with an open ended

document that the biggest risk is that not all respondents will provide a
value in their responses (i.e., missing data). Missing data will, at the very
least, increase the margins of error around the sample estimates because of
the smaller sample sizes. However, if the missing values don’t occur
randomly across all respondents, they can actually bias the estimates.
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Harrem Khalid says

July 7, 2020 at 2:46 pm
Hey Jim. You did not answer my question!

Can you please guide me.
How an open ended response can affect measure of central tendency ? How it
can be calculated in such cases?
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Jim Frost says

July 7, 2020 at 2:52 pm
Hi Harrem,
I’m not sure that I understand your question. Are you asking whether if
people write a response rather than just entering a value, how to calculate
the central tendency? It might not be possible!
If you want to get a precise answer in a precise format (such as a value),

it’s best practice to ask a very specific question. If the question is open
ended, you might not get the information you need to calculate what you
want.
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Hajra says
July 7, 2020 at 5:34 am
Hi jim
Thank you. This artcle helps me alot.

Benish, zeshan, naila etc your Question belonging to B.ed exam can no where
be in exact words. You need to understand the article. I am also through the
same exam and did it very well. GOOD LUCK
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Michelle says
July 2, 2020 at 2:14 pm
Hi Jim,
I designed a likert 5 scale questionnaire for my research. My topic was
“investigating effect of feedback on students in online and physical classes” .
Basically study is comparative in nature. After getting the responses I did the
frequency analysis by using SPSS software to analyze how many students
agreed to my statements. But now my instructor is asking for the mean analysis.
I am confused because every questions has a different likert ( for 1 question it is
strongly agree, for other it is disagree) I need to justify my analysis. If I get
average mean of one likert value (strongly agree etc) it will invalidate my
results.
Can you please guide how can I do the mean analysis, I am from social sciences
background with minimum knowledge of statistics.
Thank you.
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NailaRizwan says
July 2, 2020 at 6:07 am
hi jim
measure of central tendency cannot give complete picture of data for
interpretation.what kind of information is necessary to make sense of measure
of central tendency?mean life expectancy of a citizen of pakistan is 58
years.what does it means.explain statistical knowledge
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Jim Frost says

July 3, 2020 at 4:18 pm
Hi, means don’t capture the variability around the mean. I show several
examples of that in this post. By looking at only the mean, you don’t know
how far away from the mean any given observation is likely to fall. For
life expectancy, this indicates that the mean you’d expect someone to live
is 58 years old. However, how closely do people fall to this mean?
Also, you can also refine the mean with additional information. For
example, that value might be for all Pakistanis. However, if you knew a
person was male of female, those subpopulations probably have different
means. Additionally, people with various health conditions will have
different life expectancies. Also, you’d want to know how old a person is
because that affects how much longer they’re expected to live.
So, at the very least, you’d want to know the variability around the life
expectancy. You’d also want to know additional information about a
person to calculate their life expectancy.
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Aduni says
June 30, 2020 at 12:05 pm
those three measures are defining central tendency then why do we need three
measures
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Jim Frost says

June 30, 2020 at 1:21 pm
Hi Aduni,
In this article, I talk about the strengths and weaknesses of each measure
of central tendency. I describe the distributions and data types where each
measure is either particularly good or bad. I won’t retype what I wrote
throughout this article. So, just look for each measure’s strengths and
weakness, when to use them, in this article. Your answers are there!
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zeeshan naeem says

June 28, 2020 at 3:14 pm
hi jim
measure of central tendency cannot give complete picture of data for
interpretation.what kind of information is necessary to make sense of measure
of central tendency?mean life expectancy of a citizen of pakistan is 58
years.what does it means.explain statistical knowledge
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Arshad says
June 28, 2020 at 8:11 am
What kind of information is necessary to make sense of measureof central

tendency?? Plzzz solve this question
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benish says
June 27, 2020 at 10:55 am
Can anyone help me to solve this question.

What kind of information is necessary to make sense of measure of central
tendency ?
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Jim Frost says

June 27, 2020 at 3:20 pm
Hi Benish,
It depends what you mean by “make sense.” There’s the mathematical

definition of each that I describe in this article. In terms of distributions,
certain measures are better for different types of distributions. I also cover
those considerations in this article in detail. Read through it more
carefully. Then, if you have any more specific questions, please post them
here.
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KECHLER POLYCARPE says

June 23, 2020 at 6:40 pm
Hey, Jim its Kechler thank you for your advice.
1.When do you use distribution in Measures of central tendency?
2.What’s the difference between Measures of Central Tendency and

distribution/ empirical rule ?
3.Is Distribution in measures of central tendency only good when doing

probability or forecasting for a business?
4. If I want one on one skype counseling sessions how much do you charge?
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Jim Frost says

June 27, 2020 at 4:26 pm
Hi Kechler,
Thanks for writing. Distribution plays a role for which type of measure is
best for your data. I cover that for each type of central tendency. So, read
through and look for that.
The empirical rule applies to how far data falls from the mean when your
data follow the normal distribution. I cover that in my article about the
Normal Distribution .
Central tendencies are useful any time you want to summarize the central
location of a dataset using a single value.
Sorry, but I currently don’t have any spare time for counseling sessions. I
have way too much stuff going on right now! I hope you understand.
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aleeha irfan says

June 19, 2020 at 3:19 am
what is the role of central tendency in biostatistics?
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Shehab Walid says

June 5, 2020 at 9:12 pm
where is the reference? and thanks for this useful information
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Jim Frost says

June 5, 2020 at 9:33 pm
What reference? If you mean that you want to cite my article, learn how at
Purdue University’s webpage about citing electronic resources. Scroll
down to the “A Page on a Web Site” section.
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Mohd says
May 8, 2020 at 9:40 pm
Thank you so much Jim.
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JF Labrie says
May 8, 2020 at 3:29 am
Hi Jim. This is so clear and intuitive! I’ll reference you website and your book
to my students in my commodity finance class.
Would you have such an intuitive explanation to compare weighted average and
weighted median? I had to explain weighted median to my students lately. Took
me a while to make it clear in my head before being able to build some clear
slides about it.
It was my first time hearing about it when I read in the CME Group website:
“Partition prices are defined as the size-weighted median price for all trades
executed during the partition.”
Cheers to your great work!
JF
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Mohd says
May 6, 2020 at 2:09 pm
Hi Jim,
In your book you have mentioned for “skewed distribution, the median is better
measure of central tendency. It makes sense to pair it with interquartile range or
other percentile based range”.
Can u explain how i can pair it with interquartile range for below mentioned
data as an example.
Min – 1000
Max – 1216
Q1 – 1008
Q2 – 1024 – Median
Q3 – 1050
IQR = Q3-Q1 = 42
Regards,
Mohd.
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Jim Frost says

May 7, 2020 at 4:21 pm
Hi Mohd,
Thank you so much for supporting my ebook. I really appreciate it!
What I meant is that with a normal distribution, you know that

approximately 95% of the values will fall between the mean and +/- 2*SD.
So, just knowing the mean and SD is very helpful in that regard. However,
that doesn’t necessarily work with non-normal distributions. What you’d
need to do to come up with the equivalent information is the median, along
with the 2.5th percentile and 97.5th percentile. 95% of the population
should fall between those percentiles (97.5 – 2.5 = 95).
For your data, you could supply the median (1024), but you would need to
calculate those two other percentiles. And that gives you equivalent
information as knowing the mean and SD for a normal distribution. To
calculate those percentiles, you’ll need to determine which distribution
your data follow.
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Asma says
April 18, 2020 at 6:52 pm
Hi Jim,
thank you for your article ! it’s really helpful for me. I would like to ask you for
some help for the project I’m working on.
I have a group of multidimensional data for exemple:
d1={12,85,23,70,6}
d2={4,60,8,45,20}
d3={19,20,10,14,30}
d4={4,16,32,65,11}
I would like to repsent this data by a single vector ! wich realy repsent this data
!
I think that the mean is not very repsentatif for a population, so is there any
method better repsentatif for a population in this case !!
Thank you for ansering.
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Esther Camacho says

April 6, 2020 at 9:24 pm
Very Helpful. high school student.
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Aliraza says
March 30, 2020 at 10:08 am
Thank You Sir
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Sagar Baravkar says

March 28, 2020 at 7:18 am
Hi Jim Sir,
As I was searching for why we cannot calculate the median for two different
classes…..I got your blog….which is very useful….can you give me some
information about it…. definitely will follow another topics also…��☺
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Jim Frost says

March 29, 2020 at 3:00 am
Hi, I’m not sure why you think that you couldn’t calculate medians for
different classes?
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Itzel says
March 20, 2020 at 5:39 pm
I rarely ever comment on blog posts but I really wanted to tell you that this has
been by far the clearest explanation I’ve found on the net. Thank you so much,
Jim! I just bought your book on regression ��
All the best!
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Jim Frost says

March 21, 2020 at 2:46 am
Hi Itzel,
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Your kind words
mean a lot to me! It makes my day!
Also, thanks so much for supporting my ebooks. I really appreciate it!
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Rubel parvej says

Thanks a lot… SIR

for your kind information….
I’m from Bangladesh.
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sandeep pendela says

those three measures are defining central tendency then why do we need three
measures
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Jim Frost says

Hi Sandeep,
Read the blog post because it explains why. Spoilers but some work with
particular types of data and others worked better with skewed data. It’s all
in the post!
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Misbah Memon says

October 29, 2019 at 11:54 am
when 2 variables have mean, median and modes that differ substantially from
each other. What can you infer from this?
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Jim Frost says

Hi Misbah,
It means those variables center on different values. However, you can’t

really say more without additional information.
Suppose the variables are height and weight. Of course, they’ll have
different mean, medians, and modes because they are not measuring the
same thing.
However, if they do measure the same property for similar items, such as
the heights of men and women, then you might be able to conclude that
those subpopulations have different properties.
It really depends on the nature of those two variables. Statistical analyses

and the conclusions that you draw are very context and subject-area
sensitive.
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Phil says
It was so clear and understandable. I appreciate. Was really helpful. Thanks.
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Ooko John says

Jim,
This is a wonderful article. I would only suggest that you consider paraphrasing
this portion by possibly qualifying it: ” … Unlike the mean, the median value
doesn’t depend on all the values in the dataset. ..”.
Technically, the median depends on all the values in the dataset. This is why
your explanation of its calculation reads, “To find the median, order your data
from smallest to largest, and then find the data point that has an equal amount
of values above it and below it”.
Regards.
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Jim Frost says

Hi Ooko,
Thanks for writing. I understand what you’re saying. However, there’s a

large difference between how the median uses values compared to the
mean. For the median, while you do sort from smallest to largest, the
values above and below the median are literally just placeholders. For
example, you can take any value that is above the median and change it to
any other value that is above the median, and the median won’t change at
all. You can do the same with values below the median. Conversely, with
mean, you make a change to any value, and it affects the mean.
Consequently, the median value does not depend on all the values in the
dataset. You can literally change them and not affect the median. I show
an example of that in this post.
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Tamadur says
Hi
This is my first time to read an article by you
It is clear wonderfull article and delivered it smoothy. I could see your
proffession and love to statistic.
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Devanathan says
I kept foraging the web for explanations on these topics and i didnt find any
article as simple yet so informative and understandable.
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Jim Frost says

Thank you for your kind words. They make my day! I’m also happy to
hear that it was helpful!
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Habtamu says
August 17, 2019 at 9:11 am
I really appreciate that! You made very clear to me!
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ARIKNICE says
July 30, 2019 at 12:37 pm
Abena that so funny of you. i pray your lecturer wont read your comment.
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surbhi Kakar says

May 13, 2019 at 11:02 am
Hi Jim. I would like to acknowledge for for the wonderful blog you have
written. Most of the blogs/tutorials cover the basic stuff and the important stuff(
like when to use which measure) are all scattered up. This blog helped me to
collate everything at one place. Thank you very much!
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Rasool says
May 11, 2019 at 5:55 pm
Thank you so much, very good explination.
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andile says
May 3, 2019 at 4:30 pm
What are the things to include when presenting about descriptive quantitative
data analysis
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Joshua Okala says

April 30, 2019 at 8:22 am
Thank you very much
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Javed Mansuri says

April 14, 2019 at 7:48 am
Thank you very much.
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Uendel Rocha says

March 29, 2019 at 8:58 am
Bom dia Jim,
Meu segundo dia de leitura do seu post. Parabéns! Estou aprendendo muito.
Comprei o seu livro sobre regressão linear para meus trabalhos com ciência de
dados.
Muito obrigado.
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Shams says
March 27, 2019 at 12:34 am
Awesome @Jim Frost!. The histogram blog was the exact answer I was
searching for. Thanks again for putting together!.
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Abena says
March 24, 2019 at 9:54 pm
Jim, Thank so much! My lecturer can never explain the difference between
mean and median.
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Hazel says
March 24, 2019 at 12:53 am
Dear sir,
Thank you so much for your blog. It was so easy to understand. As addition can
you explain the properties of good measures of central tendency?
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Long Nguyen says

March 23, 2019 at 10:24 pm
Many thanks for the helpful article. You have given a clear explanation of the
central tendency measures, and a guide where best to use each of them.
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Shams says
March 12, 2019 at 6:22 pm
Great resource!. What about the central tendency data with double hump
distribution where two data set in which the first data set has lower hump
frequency higher and second data has the second one high. How the median or
mean helps the central tendency? Is there any other method for such scenario?
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Jim Frost says

March 21, 2019 at 11:30 am
Hi Shams,
Thank you! I’m glad my blog has been helpful!
The technical name for a double hump distribution is a bimodal

distribution. More generally, a distribution with more than one peak is a
multimodal distribution.
When you find a multimodal distribution, consider whether underlying

subpopulations are producing it. For example, the heights of men and
women have different means. It’s almost a bimodal distribution. In these
cases, you might want to graph the separate distributions for each
subgroup and identify each group’s central tendency.
In other cases, subgroups don’t explain the multiple peaks. It’s just the
natural shape of the distribution. In those cases, graphs become extra
important because no measure of central tendency will convey the true
nature of the distribution.
For more information about multimodal distributions, please see my blog

post about histograms .
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uchechi says
January 22, 2019 at 6:20 am
thanks very helpful indeed
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Sherree says
January 16, 2019 at 4:07 pm
Thank you so much for this article. I am in the second week of my first attempt
at taking a Statistics class! This was so very helpful.
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Viral S says
December 7, 2018 at 12:11 am
Thanks Jim!
Quite simple and informative.

Looking ahead to read more of your articles.
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Ben says
Very informative…
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Carol says
Hi Jim,
thanks for your blog. I found this searching for information, and so far it’s been
the easiest to read and understand! I’m attempting to do a course on using and
interpreting data in schools and I get so confused with it all! When someone
asks about the relationship between the mean and the median, what are they
asking for?
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Jim Frost says

Hi Carol,
Thanks! I’m glad to hear it’s been helpful! I strive to make my blog as
easy to understand as possible.
That is a bit of a vague question, but I hope the context in which it’s being
asked helps.
What they might be asking for is a description of how the mean and
median tend to be approximate equal for symmetric distributions. As the
distribution becomes more skewed, the difference between the mean and
median increases, with the mean being pulled towards the long tail.
Maybe that’s what they’re asking for? I hope this helps!
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Khursheed Ahmad Ganaie says

Hllo sir ..
I am ur biggest fan .
Gve ur posts on Distributions of Probability
…hope I wll get ths soon
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Jim Frost says

Hi Khursheed, I’ve already written that post. You can find it here:
Understanding Probability Distributions .
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learning262 says
Jim , It has been a while since my last stat class and i needed a refresh on those
basic unfortunately a mooc the cost hundereds of dollars could not help . Your
articles helped my greatly and i love the intuitive approach . I am going to go
through all your articles , Please do keep writing more
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Sakshi Sharma says

A very nice and to the point data!!
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Jim Frost says

Thank you, Sakshi!!
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christian says
why it is called a measure of central tendencies?
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Jim Frost says

Hi Christian,
In many distributions, there are values that are more likely and less likely
to occur. A measure of central tendency identifies where values are more
likely to occur–or where they *tend* to occur. Hence, “tendency.”
Central is more applicable to the mean and median. Both of these

measures identify a central point in the distribution. This central point is
where the values are more likely to occur.
As we saw in the post with categorical data, there is no central value.

Consequently, central doesn’t really apply for the mode. But, we still use
the terminology.
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Manas says
So nicely described..Its worth.
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Jim Frost says

Thank you, Manas!
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photonsquared says
February 26, 2018 at 10:05 am
Jim, how do you handle data spread when not using the mean?
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Jim Frost says

Hi, you must be psychic! I’m writing a post about different measures of
variability right now! If you’re not using the mean because your data are
skewed, I find that using the median for the central tendency and
interquartile range (IQR) for the variability goes together nicely. The
median splits that data in half and the IQR tells you where the middle half
of the data fall. The wider the IQR, the greater the spread the data spread.
You can also use percentiles to determine the spread for other proportions.
For example, 95% of the data fall between the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles.
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Chuck Wynn says

February 14, 2018 at 1:39 pm
Thanks for that response Jim. I have one more quick question. I would think
that the mode for continuous data would be important when it comes to
distributions that have two (bimodal) or more (multi-modal) peaks. In these
cases, where one has more than one center of tendency, it would seem to me
that the mode measure of central tendency becomes the more important piece of
information than either the mean or median. Would this be accurate? Or is the
answer, “It depends”? ��
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Jim Frost says

Hi Chuck! Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I’ve been on
vacation!
I agree with what you say about multimodal continuous distributions. In

fact, if you have a multimodal distribution, it’s often crucial that you make
that determination. Suppose that you use a histogram to display the
distribution of body heights. You notice that there are two peaks. There are
at least three important issues here.
1) If you are trying to identify the best probability distribution for your
data, you won’t succeed!
2) You also know that there is something else of interest for you to learn
about your data. For our example, the two peaks might indicate separate
measures of central tendencies for males and females. You can then better
understand your data and how to analyze it.
3) As you mention, the mean and median are less meaningful for the single
multimodal distribution. You’ll probably want to identify the
subpopulations (if they exist) and change your analysis.
Graphing is always important for understanding your data. In this case,

you do want to know about multimodal distribution because it affects how
you interpret the measure of central tendency and could very well change
how you analyze your data. It can actually point you to understanding
something new about your data. In the example about the heights, we
learned that males and females each have their own distribution. Gender is
a relevant variable in our analysis. That’s a fairly obvious example.
However, in other cases, it might lead you to something that you didn’t
already consider. It’s a bit like being a detective and looking for clues!
Thanks for the great question and good insight!
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Chuck Wynn says

Hi Jim,
Yet another helpful article! I did have two questions:
1) It seems like a good tie-in to this article would be one that describes box
plots and how to understand the information that they provide. Is there an
article that you’ve written on box plots that could be linked to this?
2) Unless I’m mistaken, the central tendency of a distribution and variability

around that central value tie into the concepts of accuracy and precision. Any
chance that you could speak to those concepts in a future article?
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Jim Frost says

Hi Chuck,
Thank you very much! Those are both great ideas too.
I definitely plan to write a more comprehensive post about how the various
aspects of distributions work together–which would be a natural place to
show box plots. I haven’t written that yet but it is on my list of things to
write about this spring.
As for accuracy and precision, we definitely have very specific definitions

for those terms in statistics. While in everyday English they are often
considered synonyms, in statistics they’re very different. And, you’re
correct, they do tie into those two concepts. These terms often come up in
measurement system analysis.
If you measure parts repeatedly and the average or central tendency of the
measurements are unbiased (on target on average), you have an accurate
measurement system. However, if the measurements are biased
(systematically too high or too low), your measurement system is
inaccurate.
If you measure the same part multiple times and the variability between
measurements is low, your measurement system is precise. However, if
the measurements vary quite a bit, your system is imprecise.
You can have any combination of accuracy and precision. Accurate and
precise. Accurate but not precise. Not accurate but precise. Neither
accurate nor precise.
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John says
Very informative
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Jim Frost says

Thank you, John!
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Khursheed Ahmad Ganaie says

Thnks a lot …..
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Manhal Alnajar says

April 24, 2021 at 7:44 am

Thank you sir it was very helpful for my study.

natasha rose says

Jim Frost says

Hi Natasha, I don’t know what you mean by grouping a set of data? Do

Sadashiv Borgaonkar says

Jim Frost says

There’s two ways that come to mind.

I hope that helps!

Hello, is peak = mode?

Jim Frost says

Yes, on a bar chart or distribution plot, the peak is the mode.

Anna Yanycheva says

Jim Frost says

I don’t have a dedicated audiobook if that’s what you’re asking. I believe

Jim Frost says

Thank you Sir

Md Afzal khan says

Very relevant information about central tendency.

Jim Frost says

Hi Emikel, sorry for the delay! I’ve replied to it!

KECHLER POLYCARPE says

Jim Frost says

MahNoor Ashrif says

im really disappointed my comments are not uploading here

Jim Frost says

Jim Frost says

I hope that helps!

Harrem Khalid says

Jim Frost says

In terms of the central tendency, it seems to me with an open ended

Harrem Khalid says

Hey Jim. You did not answer my question!