.

vJ$5 OF DISPERSION
-P's 277

..,11e•.-e · p90 and. P10 · are

, the 9 0th . and
•''
.1 r11i-percentile range. i.e..· ' ( Pgo -·Pio)· .10th percentiles respectively. The
stof1 ernP oye d · 2 can al so be used, b ut is not ·com-
1
ly
111 . I
r,fean Deviation
file ;

· two methods of di~persion di ·

111\tioil, are not measures of scussed above nam
dt"'..us< they do not show the s dispersion in the s/{Yt range and quartile
ll''oy the formation of a dlstrtbc~ttemess around / c sense of the term
'" average. The two other meau ion we should ta~e average.
th _However. to
lfl standard deviation, help us sures namely, the av e deviations from
werbe rnean deviation is also kn In achieVing this goal erage deviation and
b t th · own as the ··
difference e ween e items in a distrib average_deViation It i th .
:l rieS 'fheoretlcally there is an d utlon and the med!,.;. s e average
ltle~'l(s%
!edia~ because the sum of deviati: va>Jn~age in taking the ~;~~-an 'offthat
e.~ sjgrtS
p•
are~innored. .However. in practice,
ns o items fi~
the ions when
om median is minimum rom
Of used in calculatmg the value of average d ~rithmetic mean is more frequently
~lit~ ore commonly called mean deViati e I ation and this is the reason why it
be 111clearly stated in a given problem so~~- t n any case, the average used must
avoided. · a any possible confusion in meaning

111putation of
Mean Deviation-Individu . · .
, XN are N given observations then the dal _o~servations. * If _ X2, X1,
by _ eviation about an average A is
0
. 1
~.o.
. =-r
n Ix-A .I
l_ I D I or r I D I
N - N
ere I D I = X - A I . Read as mod · (X .,.. A) · is · the mod 1 ._ 1

I
solute value of the deviation ignoring plus and minus signus~s va ue or
ps. \ , ' .

• Compute the media~ of the series .

• The deviations of items from medi~n ignoring ± signs and ,denote
l'.L
these deviations by I D I . .J .. ( " ' I

!.!I 1,
. :i l I

• Obtain the total of these deviations, i.e .. : .1 D l . i

i j !
• Divide the total obtained in. step (iii) by the number of observations. I •

' .
If a distribution is normal. the mean ± mean deviation is the range that will
lude 57.7 per cent of the items in the series. If it is moderately skewed.
en we may expect approximately 57.5 per cent of the Items to fall within this
e. Hence, If average deviation ls small. the .distribution is highly compact
lllllform, since more than half of the cases are concentrated within a small
ge around the mean, ,, ,
If th th n in that case I D I shall
d e mean deviation ts computed from mean e. .
enote deviations of the items from mean, ignoring signs.
)~

\I., ! p.4fPuRf:S OF DISPERSION

275
\ .
tficrent otOD Oa-O,
. . = ---...:=-- __ 40 - 15 2
coe o, - - 4o + 15 = 555 = o.455.
'\
Oa +

rete Series

"
OfSC
tration 4. Compute coefficient of .
11111:rt<s 10 · bartrle deviation from the following data :
2 30
M f students 4
7
40 50 60
t.JO· o 15 8 7 2
CALCULATION CB.Com . Madras Unlu.. 1998)
5011,,tion- OF COEFFICIENT OF QUARTILE DEVIATION
r.,tarks Frequency c.f. c.f.
Marks Frequency
10 4 4 40 8 34
20 7 11 41
50 7
30 15 26 43
60 2

0, = Size of t!..:±..1 43 1
l; 4 , th. Item= 4+ -- 11th ·1
1 em.
SiZe of 11th item is 20. Thus, o, = 20
.. ; OJ= Size of 3 (N; 1
, )th item=
3
x/ 4
= 33rd item
size of 33rd item is 40. Thus, OJ= 40 ·
0.0. = OJ- 0, = 40 - 20 = 10
2 2· ·
40 20
·J coefficient of 0.0. = ~ - o, = = o 333

i
-
1. ~ + 0, 40 + 20 .
wustration 5. Calculate quartile deviation and the coefficient of quartile deviation from the I
~ing data : . .. . . .
• es in Rupees per week less then 35 35-37 38-40 41-43 · over 43
' .,
ber of wage earners ·14 62 99 18 7
(B. Com.. Madras Univ.• 1998)

CALCULATION OF Q.D. AND ITS COEFFICIENT

c.f.
Wages f
(Rs. per week)
14' ; 14
Less than. 35
62 76
35-37
175
38-40
99
193
18
41-43 200
7
over 43
OJ-01
O.D.= 2
N 200 ·
01 = Size of 4th item =4 =50 th item
lies in the class 35-37 · N/4- c..f .
o, = L + --- f X I .
L = 35, N/4 =50, c.f. =14, f= 62, t= 2
50-14 x2=35+ 1.16=36.16
01 = 35 + 62
 stJRES OF DISPERSION
r,4f;A 27£1

Coefficient of M.D. =
4 400 = 0.054
d for the second group '
,., Coefficient of M.D . = 571.43
4,400 = 0.130.

caJculation of Mean Deviation

tscrete Series In discrete series th f

J) •ation is e ormula for calcul a ting mean
deVl IDLr I
M,D. = N (by th e same logic as given before)
I D I denotes deviation from median ignoring signs.
5teps.
• calculate the median of the series.
• Take the deviations of the items from median ignoring signs and
denote them by I D I ·.
, Multiply these deviations by the respective frequencies and obtain the
total :Ef I D I • .
. • Divide the total obtained in Step (iQ by the number of observations.
This gives us the value of mean deviation.
Illustration 7. (a) Calculate mean deviation from the following series : 14
X 10 11 . 12 13
3
t 3 12 18 12
CALCULATION OF MEAN DEVIATION
c.f.
f I 01 f\ D\
6 3
3 2
10 12 15
12 1
11 0 33
18 0
12 12 45
12 1
13 6
48
3 2
14 L f\ D\ 36
N 48
gtJ2l
M.D. = N
1
. N +J_ th item = ~8 + = 24.5th item
Median = Size of - 2 2
. h ·ce Median = 12
Size of 24.Sth item is 12, en 36
M D == - == 0.75 .
. . 48 for the following data :
. r from the mean 14 16
(b) Calculate the mean dev1a ion 8 1o 12
1 1
2 4 6 3 2
Size: 4 5
2 2
 278
STATIST1c.l\L l\,f
t"rffa
corresponding to the mean deviation. cau
The relative measu7 !Ion Is obtained by dividing mean devfaUon \d I\
coefficient of mean d';;'::, co.;.,putlng mean deviation. Thus. If mean de 'Y I\
particular average ~":'rom median. the coefficient of mean devtaUon s;'•ua
has beenbyco11_1~du~eg
obtained diVI m mean dev1atfon by median. M.D. au b'
Coefficient of M.D. = Median
has been used while calculating the value of mean deviatio
If mean
such me.,
n. I
a case coefficient of mean deviation shall be obtained by dividing
deviation by the mean.
fflustmion s. Calculate the mean deviation and Its coefficient of the two income ,°"Ps
five and seven members given below : .
I (Rs .) : 9
4,000 4,200 4,400 4,600 4,800
II (Rs.) : 3,000 4,000 4,200 4,400 4,600 4,800
Solution.
CALCULATION OF MEAN DEVIATION
Group I ,
Deviation from Group IJ
median 4400 I DI Deviation from
4,000
400 median 4400 I DI
4,200 3,000
200 1.400
4,400 4,000
0 400
4,600 . 4,200
200 200
4,800 4,400
400 0
4,600
200
4,800
400
5,800
_l:/ D/ = 1200 1,400

Mean Deviation: Group I: M.D. = r 1:J r I DI = 4,ooo

I DI = Deviation from median ignoring signs,

M d' s· . f N + 1 th item=
e 1an .= _,ze o
. 5+1 : .
= ~rd item
2 2
Size of 3rd item is 4,400 M.D. = 1•~00 = 240 · -:

Rs. This
240.means lhal lhe average devialion
· of lhe individual income~ from the median income i
Mean Deviation ;, Group I I ~~ ·.:

S. f N+1 . 7+1
=
Size of 4th item is 4,400 = ize o 2
th item
2 =4th item
r I Pl= 4,ooo, N= 7.
4 000
M.D. =
Note. If we were to compute c ff . f
Y
= 571 .43.
. .
00 O
median. Thus for lhe first group :
.' j ; , ... ,c,enl mean deviation we shall divide mean deviation b
 ' stJf$S OF DISPERSION
. 'l.8 l
_, ~edian lies in the class 3 0-40
Med - L N12
N/2 = 50 · .- + - c.f.
i,:: 30, ' C.f. = 37 ' f - 25, j = 10 f - X I·

Med . = 30 + §_O - 37
I M .D. = r. f I OJ2513 X 10 = 30 + 5.2 = 35

~ calculate
Class the mean dev,at,on
. . andN it · • 100 "13.148 .2
11 o--10 Frequency° coefficient from th e follow·
10--20 5
Class mg data,
2o-3D 40-50 Frequency
8 5
3()-40 12 0-so 20
15 60-70 14
. . 70-80 12

e WIii calcuIate mean devlaf (B.Com.. And hm Uniu.. 19961

1ution. Since nothing is CALCULA
. •w
5 pec1al . 6
,.---;:;;:;:;-
S0 TION OF M ,on from media .

. CIBSSFrequency EAN DEVIATION n ·

~----~
, o--10
f - - - -c.f.
s8
-
5
m.p --T;--=~,__:_---:---~
--!5~_'.__J\~D~\~--~f\~D~\---
m· m 43 I
lure 13
15
38
190
224
' 10-20
12
25
25
28
18 216
20-30 120
15 40 35 8
3Q-40 45 2 40
20 60
40-50 55 12 168
14 74
50-60 86 65 22 264
12 192
75 32

-
92
I : I 6 'i. f D = 1414
N=92
92
. . . Med. = Size of N
2 th item - 2 = 46th .,tern

Median hes in the class 40-SO.

Med. = ·L + N/2 - c.f. xi
f j:= 10 I
L 40, N/2 = 46, c.f. = 40, · t = 20
46-40 . ' I

8 = 40 + X 10 = 40 + 3 = 43
M d 20
WQ\. 1414 ·
M.D.= N = = 15.37
92
53
- 1 == o·357 ·
M.~• == !..43
Coeff. of M.D. = Median

i '''I
rlts and Limitations
I
: I I

'nte outstanding advantage of the average devlatiOn is Its re\at!Ve

!city. It ts stmple to understand and easy to compute. Any one
tar with the concept of the average can readily appreciate the
A dtsllncllon •ls often made between population standard deviation .ind samp\t'
standard deviallOO, popu\atton standard deviation is denoted by a whereas

sample standard deviation by s.

 :lBO
STATISTICAL 1\1
l::l'fiaD~
Solution. CALCULATION OF MEAN DEVIATION FROM MEAN
X f fX IX Bl
101
2
4
2
2 8
4 6
4
~ 8
II
I

6 4 24 2 t
8 II
8 5 40 0
0 i
10 3 30 2 !
6
12 2 24 4 I
8
14 1 14 6
6
16 1 16 · · 8
N-20 f X= 160
8 t
rt~ !
x-r'x= 160=8 I
SiOC8 nothin
- N 20 l
~oft.
MD =I:f/D/-=56=.2.B.
. . N 20

Calculation of Mean Deviation-Continuous Series

For calculating mean deviation in continuous series the procedure remains

the same as discussed above. The only difference is that here we have to 1o-20 12
obtain the mid-point of the various classes and take deViations of these 2()-30
points from median. The formula is same, Le., '1
30-40 '
MD
. .
=}:j/D/
N .
, i
t
40-50
50-60
2(
ii
Illustration 8. (a) Find the median and mean deviation of the following data : 60-70
•
Size 70-80 6

I
Frequency Size
0-10 7 Frequency N=
10-20 40-S0
12 16
20-30 50-60
18 14
30-40 60-70
25 8

Solution. (B. Com. Mysore Univ. 1998}

Size CALCULATION OF MEDIAN AND MEAN DEVIATION
f c.t. m.p. I m - 35.21
0-10 7 m IDI . fl DI
' 7,
10-20 12 5 30.2
20-30
19 15 211.4
,, 18
37 20.2 242.4
30--40 25 25 10,2
. 40-SO 62 35
I
183.6
16 0.2
SO-eo 78 45 · ~-0
14 9.8
60-10 92 55 156.8
a· 100 19.8
65 277.2 .
N= 100 29.8
238.4
·Ifl DI= 1314.8
Med. = Size of Nth ,·tem - 100 .
2 - 2
= 50th item