Grade

MATHEMATICS
QUARTER 4 – MODULE 4
MELC 6 and 7
Measures of Central Tendency
PART I.
MELC 6: Illustrate the measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode)
of a statistical data.

A. Introduction and discussion

The field of statistics is the science of learning from data. When statistical
principles are correctly applied, statistical analyses tend to produce accurate results.
In this module, you will learn about the measures of central tendency. One of the
bases how statisticians conduct and perform educational researches.
A measure of central tendency is a single value that attempts to describe a
set of data by identifying the central position within that set of data. In statistics, the
three most common measures of central tendency are the mean, median,
and mode. Each of these measures and calculates the location of the central point
using a different method.
The mean (or average) is the most popular and well-known measure of
central tendency. It can be used with both discrete and continuous data, although its
use is most often with continuous data. The mean is equal to the sum of all the
values in the data set divided by the number of values in the data set.
For example, consider the wages of staff at a factory below:
Staff 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Salary 15,000 18,000 16,000 14,000 15,000 15,000 12,000 17,000 90,000 95,000

The mean salary for these ten staffs is Php 30,700. However, inspecting the
raw data suggests that this mean value might not be the best way to accurately
reflect the typical salary of a worker, as most workers have salaries in the Php
12,000 to Php 18,000 range. The mean is being skewed by the two large salaries.
Therefore, in this situation, we would like to have a better measure of central
tendency. As we will find out later, taking the median would be a better measure of
central tendency in this situation.
The median is the middle score for a set of data that has been arranged in
order of magnitude. The median is less affected by outliers and skewed data. In
order to calculate the median, suppose we have the data below:

65 55 89 56 35 14 56 55 87 45 92

We first need to arrange the data in ascending order (smallest to largest):

14 35 45 55 55 56 56 65 87 89 92

Our median mark is the middle mark - in this case, 56. It is the middle mark
because there are 5 scores before it and 5 scores after it. This works fine when you
have an odd number of scores, but what happens when you have an even number of
scores? What if you had only 10 scores? Well, you simply have to get the average of
the two middle scores. Look at the next example:

18 21 25 27 30 32 38 40 49 55

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 Take note that data must be arranged either in ascending or descending order
before taking the two middlemost entries. In this case, the two middlemost scores
are 30 and 32, getting the average of the two, , will give us 31. Therefore, the
median of these scores is 31.
The mode is the most frequent score in our data set or the one that has the
most occurrences.
The following are the scores of 20 Grade 7 learners of 7-Mabait in their
20-item quiz.

8 11 10 19 12 10 18 17 16 15

17 13 12 17 9 14 17 13 11 17

Since, most of the learners got a score of 17, therefore, 17 is the mode of the
given data set.

MELC 7: Calculate the measures of central tendency of ungrouped and

grouped data.
This material will help the students in choosing the best measure of central
tendency to use depending on the type of data they have. In this module the
students will learn how to calculate these measures of central tendency of a grouped
and ungrouped data.
A. Ungrouped Data
a. Mean- The mean, often called the average, of a numerical set of data, is
simply the sum of the data values divided by the number of values. This is
also referred to as the arithmetic mean. The mean is the balance point of a
distribution.

sum of the values

MEAN =
the number of values

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 Example

Problem: Enrico has been working on programing and updating a Web site for his
company for the past months. The following numbers represent the
number of hours Stephen has worked on this Web site for each of the
past 7 months:

24, 25, 31, 50, 53, 66, 78

What is the mean (average) number of hours that Stephen worked on

this Web site each month?

Step 1: Add the numbers to determine the total number of hours he

worked.
Solution:
24 + 25 + 31 + 50 + 53 + 66 + 78 = 327

Step 2: Divide the result in step1 by the total number of months or the
total number of values.

Mean =

Answer: Mean = 46.71

The calculations for the mean of a sample and the total population are done in
the same way. However, the mean of a population is constant; while the mean of a
sample varies from sample to sample. Take note that, if the number of values is not
given in the problem, just count the number of values.

Example

Problem: Arvin operates Technology Titans, a Web site service that employs
8 people. Find the mean age of his employees, if their ages are as
follows:

55, 63, 34, 59, 29, 46, 51, 41

Solution: Step 1: Add the numbers to determine the total age of the workers.

55 + 63 + 34 + 59 + 29 + 46 + 51 + 41 = 378

Step 2: Divide the total by the number of months.

Mean =

Answer: Mean = 47.25

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 b. Median - the median is the number that falls in the middle position once the
data has been organized. Organized data means the numbers are arranged
from smallest to largest or from largest to smallest. The median for an odd
number of data values is the value that divides the data into halves.
If n represents the number of data values and n is an odd number, then the
median will be found in the position.

Example

Problem Find the median of the following data:

12, 2, 16, 8, 14, 10, 6

Step 1: Organize the data, or arrange the numbers from smallest to

Solution: largest.

2, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16

Step 2: Since the number of data values is odd, the median will be
found in the position.

n 1 1
= = =4

Step 3: In this case, the median is the value that is found in the fourth
position of the organized data.
2, 6, 8, 10 , 12, 14, 16

Answer: Median = 10

Below is another example of how to calculate the median of a set of numbers.

Example

Problem Find the median of the following data:

7, 9, 3, 4, 11, 1, 8, 6, 1, 4

Solution: Step 1: Organize the data, or arrange the numbers from smallest to
largest.

1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11

Step 2: Since the number of data values is even, the median will be
the mean value of the numbers found before and after the
position.

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 Median = = = = 5.5

Step 3: The number found before the 5.5 position is 4 and the
number found after the 5.5 position is 6. Now, you need to find the
mean value.

1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11

Median = = =5
Answer: Median = 5

c. Mode - The mode of a set of data is simply the value that appears most
frequently in the set.
If two or more values appear with the same frequency, each value is a mode. The
downside in using the mode as a measure of central tendency is that a set of data
may have no mode, or it may have more than one mode. However, the same set of
data will have only one mean and median.
 The word modal is often used when referring to the mode of a data set.
 If a data set has only one value that occurs most often, the set is
called unimodal.
 A data set that has two values that occur with the same greatest frequency is
referred to as bimodal.
 When a set of data has more than two values that occur with the same
greatest frequency, the set is called multimodal.
When determining the mode of a data set, calculations are not required, but keen
observation is a must. The mode is a measure of central tendency that is simple to
locate, but it is not used much in practical applications.

Example 1

Problem Find the mode of the following data:

76, 81, 79, 80, 78, 83, 77, 79, 82, 75

Solution: There is no need to organize the data, unless you think that it would be
easier to locate the mode if the numbers were arranged from least to
greatest. In the above data set, the number 79 appears twice, but all the
other numbers appear only once. Since 79 appears with the greatest
frequency, it is the mode of the data values.

Answer: 79 (unimodal)

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 Example 2

The ages of 12 randomly selected Front liners in Sto. Tomas is listed

below:
Problem:
23, 21, 29, 24, 31, 21, 27, 23, 24, 32, 33, 19

What is the mode of the above ages?

Solution: The data set has three values that each occur with a frequency of 2.
These values are 21, 23, and 24. All other values occur only once.
Therefore, this set of data has three modes.

Answer: 21, 23, 24 (multimodal)

B. Grouped Data

a. Mean. To calculate the mean of grouped data, the first step is to determine
the midpoint of each interval or class. These midpoints must then be
multiplied by the frequencies of the corresponding classes. The sum of the
products divided by the total number of values will be the value of the mean.

∑
Mean, x =

b. Median. Median is the value which occupies the middle position when all the
observations are arranged in an ascending or descending order. It is a
positional average. To find the median, follow these steps:

(i) Construct the cumulative frequency distribution.

(ii) Find (n/2)th term

(iii) The class that contains the cumulative frequency n/2 is called the median
class.

(iv) Find the median by using the formula:

.
Median, M = L + c

Where: L – lower boundary point of median class

n – total frequency
cf – cumulative frequency of the class preceding the median class
f – frequency of the median class
c – class length of the median class

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c. Mode. To find the mode, follow these steps:
Step 1: Find the class interval with the maximum frequency. This is also called
modal class.
Step 2: Find the size of the class. This is calculated by subtracting the upper
limit from the lower limit.
Step 3: Calculate the mode using the mode formula:

1 .
Mode, Z = L + ( c
1

Where: L – lower boundary point of mode class

f1- frequency of the mode class
f0 – frequency of the preceding class
f2 – frequency of the succeeding class
c – class length of the mode class

Example
1. Calculate Mean, Median and Mode from the following grouped data
Class Frequency
Class Frequency
1-5 3
6 - 10 5
11 - 15 8
16 - 20 4

Solution:
.
Class Frequency, f Mid Value, x f x cf
1-5 3 3 9 3
6 - 10 5 8 40 8
11 - 15 8 13 104 16
16 - 20 4 18 72 20
n = 20 ∑ = 225

∑
a. Mean, x =

Mean, x = 11.25

.
b. Median, M = L + c

To find the median class, find the (n/2)th observation

= (20/2)th observation
=10th observation
From the column of cumulative frequency, cf, the 10th observation lies in
the class, 11-15, therefore, the median class is 11 – 15.

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 Therefore, L = 11
n = 20
cf = 8
f=8
c=5

.
Median, M = 11 + 5
1 .
= 11 + 5
.
= 11 + 5
= 11 + (0.25)(5)
= 11 + 1.25
Mean, M = 12.25

1 .
c. Mode, Z = L + ( c
1
In the table, the maximum frequency is 8, therefore, the mode class is 11-15.
Therefore, L = 11
f1 = 8
f0 = 5
f2 = 4
c=5
.
Mode, Z = 11 + 5
.
= 11 + 5
1
.
= 11 + 5
= 11 + (0.43)(5)
= 11 + 2.15
Mode, Z = 13.15

PART II. Activities

Activity I
Directions: Find for the Mean, Median, and Mode of the following set of numbers.

1. 1, 2, 15, 24, 6, 3, 11, 1, 15 4. 22, 24, 26, 24, 25, 32, 28, 24

Mean:_________ Mean:_________
Median:________ Median:________
Mode:_________ Mode:_________

2. 98, 95, 96, 93, 98, 97, 98 5. 32, 55, 12, 72, 24, 19, 12

Mean:_________ Mean:_________
Median:________ Median:________
Mode:_________ Mode:_________

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3. 11, 15, 14, 15, 8, 17
Mean:_________
Median:________
Mode:_________

Activity II
Directions: Identify if the following sets of numbers are unimodal, bimodal. or
multimodal. Write your answer on the blank provided before each
number.

__________________________ 1. 9, 8, 11, 20, 11, 25, 26, 28, 10

__________________________ 2. 15, 10, 87, 25, 23, 10, 15, 11, 13, 2
__________________________ 3. 4, 12, 85, 25, 26, 12, 22, 42, 32, 122
__________________________ 4. 52, 54, 50, 56, 54, 59, 50, 58, 57, 53
__________________________ 5. 25, 25, 26, 23, 27, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 28
Activity III
Directions: Solve the problem

1. Five boys are members of the junior basketball. If their ages in years, are 15
years, 16 years, 14 years and 16 years, and 14 years, find the mean, median,
and mode age of the five boys.

2. The 38 students of Mr. Florida’s math class took their first quarter summative
test and the results are as follows. Solve for the Mean, Median and Mode
score of the students using the data below.
Number of students
Scores each interval
41 – 45 3
46 – 50 5
51 – 55 6
56 – 60 9
61 – 65 8
66 – 70 7

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Answer Key

Activity I Activity II
1. Mean: 8.67 1. unimodal
Median: 6 2. bimodal
Mode: 1 and 15 3. unimodal
4. bimodal
5. multimodal
2. Mean: 96.43 6. unimodal
Median: 97 7. unimodal
Mode: 98 8. bimodal
9. multimodal
3. Mean: 13.33 10. unimodal
Median: 14.5
Mode: 15

4. Mean: 25.625
Median: 24.5
Mode: 24

5. Mean:32.29
Median: 24
Mode: 12

Activity III.
1. Mean: 15
Median: 15
Mode: 14 and 16

2. Mean = 57.61
Median = 58.80
Mode = 56.75

References:
1. Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median, and Mode by Jim Frost
https://statisticsbyjim.com/basics/measures-central-tendency-mean-median-
mode/

2. Measures of Central Tendency” by Merry, B. © 2012 retrieved

from http://www.ck12.org/flexbook/chapter/9079 Creative Commons
Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

3. Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median, and Mode by the National

Information Security and Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC) is
licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

4. Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median, and Mode by anonymous

https://www.riosalado.edu/web/oer/WRKDEV10020011_INTER_0000_v1/less
ons/Mod05_MeanMedianMode.shtml
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Part III. Assessment
A. Directions: Choose the most sensible answer. Write the letter of the correct
answer on the space provided for.
_____ 1. This measure of central tendency often used to get the most frequent
number that is found in a set of data.
a. Median b. Mean c. Mode d. Unimodal

_____ 2. This is the number that falls in the middle position once the data has been
organized.
a. Median b. Mean c. Mode d. Unimodal

_____ 3. It is often called the average score of a data.

a. Median b. Mean c. Mode d. Unimodal

_____ 4. Which is often used when referring to the mode of a data set?
a. bimodal b. modal c. multimodal d. unimodal

_____ 5. If a data set has only one value that occurs most often, the set is
called what?
a. bimodal b. modal c. multimodal d. unimodal

_____ 6. What is the modal of the set { 11, 10, 12, 10, 13, 12, 11, 20, 15, 16, 17}?
a. bimodal b. modal c. multimodal d. unimodal

_____ 7. If the mode of the distance travelled by 7 riders is 25km, given the data of 6
riders {24km, 25km, 28km, 27km, 22km, 23km }, what is the distance travelled
by the 7th rider?
a. 25km b. 26km c. 27km d. 28km

_____ 8. What is the mean of the set {11, 10, 13, 14, 15, 11, 10, 9, 11, 10}?
a. 10 b. 10.4 c. 11 d. 11.4

_____ 9. To find the average of a set of numbers, add up all the items and divide by
______.
a. 2 b. minimum c. maximum d. the number of items

_____ 10. At Dunkin Donuts the number of donut holes in a bag can vary. Help
Mavic find the mode.12,10,10,10,13,12,11,13,10,11,12
a. 10 b. 11 c. 12 d. 13

B. Problem solving
The class of Mr. Soriano Savings in a day in ₱ Number of Students
were asked how much 1– 9 12
10 – 18 11
money can they save in a
19 – 27 9
day. Find the average
28 – 36 8
amount that the class of
37 – 45 5
Mr. Soriano saves in a day
using the given data.

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