Measures of central tendency

Central tendency reflects the average level of a series of measurements.

1- The arithmetic mean

The arithmetic mean, also called mean, is defined to be the sum of the measurements divided by the
total number measurements.

the population mean is denoted by the Greek letter μ (read “mu”) and the sample mean is denoted by
the symbol (read “X-bar”)

[Sample mean] X  X [Population mean]

n

n is the total number of observations.

X is a particular value.
 (read “sigma”) indicates the operation of adding

[ Properties of the Arithmetic Mean]

 All the values are included while computing the mean.

 The mean is easily affected by largest or smallest values.
 It is unique.
 Requires the interval scale.
 The sum of the deviations of each value from the mean is zero.
 Mean is the average of a set of data. To calculate the mean, find the sum of the
data and then divide by the number of data.

Example:
12, 15, 11, 11, 7, 13
First, find the sum of the data. 12 + 15 +11 + 11 + 7 + 13 = 69
Then divide by the number of data. 69 / 6 = 11.5 The mean is 11.5
Example:
An electronics store sells CD players at the following prices: $350, $275, $500, $325, $100, $375,
and $300. What is the mean price?
$350 + $275 + $500 + $325 + $100 +$375 + $300 = $ 2225
$2225 / 7 = $317.86c
The mean or average price of a CD player is $317.86.

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2- Weighted Mean
• The weighted mean of a set of numbers X1, X2, ..., Xn, with corresponding weights w1, w2,
...,wn, is computed from the following formula:

EXAMPLE:
The Carter Construction Company pays its hourly employees $16.50, $19.00, or $25.00 per hour.
There are 26 hourly employees, 14 of which are paid at the $16.50 rate, 10 at the $19.00 rate, and
2 at the $25.00 rate. What is the mean hourly rate paid the 26 employees?

3- Median
The median, also called 50th percentile, is the midpoint of the observations when they
are arranged in ascending order.
[Properties of the Median]
• There is a unique median for each data set.
• It is not affected by extreme values.
• It can be computed for ratio-level, interval-level, and ordinal-level data.
• It can be computed for an open-ended frequency distribution if the median
does not lie in an open-ended class.
 Median is the middle number in a set of data when the data is arranged in numerical order.

When n is odd, the median is still the middle When n is even, the median is the mean of
value when the data are arranged in the middle two values when the data are
ascending order. arranged in ascending order.
The ages for a sample of five college students The heights of four basketball players, in
are: inches, are:
21, 25, 19, 20, 22 76, 73, 80, 75
Arranging the data in ascending order gives: Arranging the data in ascending order gives:
19, 20, 21, 22, 25. 73, 75, 76, 80.
Thus the median is 21. Thus the median is 75.5

4- The mode
(with the highest frequency).
12, 15, 11, 11, 7, 13 The mode is 11.
 Sometimes a set of data will have more than one mode.
For example, in the following set the numbers both the
numbers 5 and 7 appear twice.
2, 9, 5, 7, 8, 6, 4, 7, 5
5 and 7 are both the mode and this set is said to be bimodal.
 Sometimes there is no mode in a set of data.
3, 8, 7, 6, 12, 11, 2, 1
All the numbers in this set occur only once therefore there is no mode in this set.

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 Central Tendency from Stem-and-Leaf Displays
The mean can be calculated from the data presented in a Stem-and-Leaf display.
The median and mode are easily identified when the “leaves” are ranked (in numerical order) on
their “stems.” 37 + 37
= 37
Example: Find the median and mode. 2

 Median: 21/2 = 10.5 between 10th 11th term The median is 37.
 Mode is 42

5- The Geometric Mean

 Useful in finding the average change of percentages, ratios, indexes, or growth rates over time.
 The geometric mean will always be less than or equal to the arithmetic mean.
 The formula for the geometric mean is written
𝒏
GM = √(𝒙𝟏 )(𝒙𝟐 ) … … (𝒙𝒏 )
The Geometric Mean – Finding an Average Percent Change Over Time

Average percent 𝒏 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅

Increase over time 𝐺𝑀 = √ −1
𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅

EXAMPLE:
During the decade of the 1990s, and into the 2000s, Las Vegas, Nevada, was the fastest-
growing city in the United States. The population increased from 258,295 in 1990 to 552,539
in 2007. This is an increase of 294,244 people or a 13.9 percent increase over the 17-year
period. What is the average annual increase?

𝒏 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅 𝟏𝟕 𝟓𝟓𝟐𝟓𝟑𝟗

𝑮𝑴 = √𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅 – 𝟏 𝑮𝑴 = √𝟐𝟓𝟖𝟐𝟗𝟓 − 𝟏 = 1.04256-1 = 0.0457

Symmetry in Data Sets

The analysis of a data set often depends on whether the distribution is symmetric or non-symmetric.
Symmetric distribution:
the pattern of frequencies from a
central point is the same (or nearly
so) from the left and right.

Non-symmetric distribution:
the patterns from a central point from the left and
right are different.
Skewed to the left (c): a tail extends out to the left.
Skewed to the right(b): a tail extends out to the right

The Relative Positions of the Mean, Median and the Mode

A mean =median = mode
B mean ˃median > mode
C mean ˂median < mode
A B C
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