Lesson 4

MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY or POSITION

(First Semester 2020)

When to use the What is an

mean, median outlier?
and mode?

Mean – no outliers

Median – with outliers

Mode – with outliers and

several repeated
numbers
– can be used for
nominal data

Public domain pictures:

Links: https://www.pngwing.com/en/free-png-hzxlc
https://www.pngegg.com/en/png-yqqha

Let’s Hit These:

At the end of this lesson, the students must have:

 Comprehended the basic terminologies/concepts of Statistics;
 Identified the mean, mode and median in a data set.
 Appreciated the different applications of Statistics.
 Measure of Central Tendency or Position
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Let’s Get Started:

Measure of Central Tendency or Position

 is a single figure which is representative of the general level of magnitudes or values of the items in a set
of data. This figure is used to represent all the numbers in the set of data.

Outliers – these are extreme values or scores.

Example: 3, 4, 5, 6, 75 (75 is an outlier)

1. Mean is the sum of all items or terms divided by the total number of items or terms. This is the most reliable
measure of central tendency if there are no outliers.

Mean (

∑ su
n = number of items

2. Median is the value of the middle item after arranging the data in an ascending or descending order. This is
most reliable measure of central tendency when there are outliers.

3. Mode is defined as the value of the term that appears most frequently (most frequently seen item). This is
used when there are outliers and several repeated numbers.
Classification
 unimodal – a set of data with one mode
 bimodal – a set of data with two modes
 multimodal – a set of data with more than two modes

Must watch:
Mean, Mode and Median : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV0uraEra98
When to Use Mean, Median and Mode?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsvH4gRK4kw

Example 1. Find the mode, median and mean of the given data.
Data: 20, 21, 26, 20, 23
Solution: Array of the data Answers:
20
20
21 median (middle score)
23
26

Example 2: Find the mode, median and mean of the given data.
Data: 2, 5, 3, 2, 6, 8
Solution: Array of the data Answers:
2
2
3 median (middle scores ÷ 2)
5
6
8

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 Measure of Central Tendency or Position
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Ungrouped Data
An ungrouped set of data is not sorted into categories, classified, or otherwise grouped. It is basically a
list of numbers.
Formulas: summation notation
 instructs us to add the given scores

Mean (

Median = x (n+1)/2

If n = odd; median = middle term

If n = even; median = middle values ÷ 2
Mode – this is done through inspection( we just look for the item value which occurs most number of times)

Example 3: Find the mean, median and mode from the given ungrouped ungrouped data.

Given Ungrouped Data: (arranged from lowest to highets score)

118 138 148 158

120 139 148 159 Middle scores
124 140 149 161
128 142 149 161
129 142 150 165
130 142 150 167
130 143 151 168
133 146 152 170
137 147 153 175
138 147 156 180

The result of adding all the 40 scores

Answers: (118 + 120 + 124 + … + 180)

Mean (

There are 40 scores in the given data.

147 and 148 are the middle scores. Add first: 147 + 148 = 295. Then divide
by 2: (295 ÷ 2 = 147.50)
Mode = 142

The most frequently seen score is 142.

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 Measure of Central Tendency or Position
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Let’s Do This:

Activity # 6
Finding the Mean, Median and Mode from Ungrouped Data

Name: __________________________ Score: _________________________

Problem: Find the mean, mode and median of the following ungrouped data:

Data: Refer to your array in Activity #3

Array

n= ________ (number of scores)

Ʃx= ________ (add all the scores)

Mean (

Mean ( ) = ________

Median: ________ (add the middle scores and divide the sum by 2)

Mode = ________ (most frequently seen item/s or score/s)

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 Measure of Central Tendency or Position
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Grouped Data

A grouped set of data is sorted into categories or classified like the frequency distribution table.

Formulas:

Mean,

Where Σ = summation notation Cumulative

f = frequency Frequency (cumf) is
the frequency obtained
x = class mark (or the average of the lower/upper limits) by cumulating or
n = number of items/scores successively adding
the individual
frequencies from the
top or from the bottom.

where Lm = lower limit of the median class

F= the sum of all frequencies before the median class
or the cumulative frequency (cum f) before that of the median class.
fm = frequency of the median class
i = class size
Note: median class is found in nth ÷ 2 item

Recall:
where Lmo = the lower limit of the modal class
(this is the class interval with the highest frequency)
1 = is the difference between the highest frequency and the frequency
just above it.
2 = the difference between the highest frequency and the frequency
just below it.
i = class size

Example. Find the mean, median and mode from the following grouped data.

Data: (From previous example)

Class Intervals Frequency Class Mark

f x
118-126 3 122
127-135 5 131
136-144 9 140
145-153 12 149
154-162 5 158
163-171 4 167
172-180 2 176

Using the lower limits of two

Note that class size ( i ) = 9 consecutive class intervals
Or i = 127 – 118 = 9
Or i = 131 – 122 = 9 Using the two consecutive
class marks

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 Measure of Central Tendency or Position
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Solution:
Step 1: Solve for fx by multiplying f and x.
(3 * 122) = 366.

Class Intervals Frequency class mark

f x fx cum f (5 * 131) = 655. Do the same
step until the last row.
118-126 3 122 366
127-135 5 131 655
136-144 9 140 1260
145-153 12 149 1788
154-162 5 158 790
163-171 4 167 668
172-180 2 176 352
Σf 40 Σf 5879

Sum of all frequencies Sum of all fx results

Step 2: Identify the cumulative frequency (cum f). Cumulative Frequency (cumf) is
the frequency obtained by
cumulating or successively adding
the individual frequencies from the
top or from the bottom.

The frequency of the first class

Class Intervals Frequency class mark interval
f x fx cum f
118-126 3 122 366 3
3 + the frequency of the 2nd class
127-135 5 131 655 8 interval (3 + 5 = 8).
136-144 9 140 1260 17
145-153 12 149 1788 29 8 + the frequency of the 3rd class
interval (8 + 9 = 17). Do the same
154-162 5 158 790 34 steps until the last class interval.

163-171 4 167 668 38

172-180 2 176 352 40
Σf 40 Σf 5879

The last number should be the

value of n or Σf.

Another illustration

Class Intervals Frequency class mark

f x fx cum f
118-126 3 3
127-135 5 8
136-144 9 17
145-153 12 29
154-162 5 34
163-171 4 38
172-180 2 40

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 Measure of Central Tendency or Position
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th
Step 3. Solve for the mean and the median. The median class is found in n ÷ 2 item (40 ÷ 2 = 20). Hence, the class
interval (145 – 153) is the median class.

20th item is found in this cum f.

Mean ( )

Class Intervals Frequency class mark

f x fx cum f
118-126 3 122 366 3
The median class
127-135 5 131 655 8
136-144 9 140 1260 17
145-153 12 149 1788 29
154-162 5 158 790 34
163-171 4 167 668 38
172-180 2 176 352 40
Σf 40 Σ(fx) = 5879

Recall:
Lm = lower limit of the median class
F = the sum of all frequencies before the
median class or the cumulative
frequency (cum f) before that of the
median class.
fm = frequency of the median class
i = class size (i = 9 from previous page)

Median = 145 + (½ 40 -17) 9

12

= 145 + ( 3)(9) = 145 + 2.25

12

Median = 147.25

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 Measure of Central Tendency or Position
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Step 4. Solve for the mode. The modal class is the class interval with the highest frequency.

The highest frequency is

12. Therefore, the class
interval (145 – 153) is the
modal class.

Class Intervals Frequency class mark The sum of all frequencies

before the median class,
f x fx cum f hence F = 17

118-126 3 122 366 3

127-135 5 131 655 8
The modal class
136-144 9 140 1260 17
145-153 12 149 1788 29
154-162 5 158 790 34
163-171 4 167 668 38
172-180 2 176 352 40
Σf 40 Σ(fx) = 5879

(i = 9 from previous page)

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 Measure of Central Tendency or Position
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Let’s Do This:

Activity # 7
Finding the Mean, Median and Mode from Grouped Data

Name: __________________________ Score:_________________________

Problem: Find the mean, mode and median of the following grouped data:

Data: Refer to your frequency Distribution Table in Activity #3

class intervals frequency class mark

f x fx cum f

Σf =_______ Σ(fx ) = ________

Solution:
n = ______ Σ (fx ) = ______ i = ______

Mean,

= _______________ = _______________

= _____ + _______________

= ____ + _______________ = ____

1
Mode = Lmo + ( )i
1 + 2
.
= _____ + _______________

= ____ + _______________ = ____

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