Measures of Central Tendency

Central Tendency –Where the numbers tend to cluster.

A measure of central tendency is a single value that summarizes a set of data by
locating the centre of the data.
Basic Measures of Central Tendency:
𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠
1. The Mean = The Average = The Arithmetic Mean 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠

Advantages
1. It is the most commonly used
measure
2. It can be exactly calculated
3. All the information in the set of
data is used in its calculation
Disadvantages
1. It can be greatly affected by
extremely high pr low value.
2. It can sometimes give an
impossible value when the data is
discrete.
3. It cannot be obtained graphically

Use of the mean

✓ When the observation in the data are more or less symmetrically grouped
about a central point.

2. The Median - The Middle value, when the values have been arranged in
ascending or descending order of size. For n values, The middle value is the
𝑛+1
𝑡ℎ value
2

50% of the data fall above the median, and 50% fall below the median
.
Advantages Disadvantages
1. It is very simple to understand 1. It cannot interface with further
2. It is not affected by extremely statistical calculations
high or low values 2. In a limited set of data. It may not
3. It can be characteristic of the set be characteristic of the group
of data and sometime represents 3. In grouped frequency distribution
an actual member it is mostly estimated from a
cumulative frequency curve.
✓ When the problem calls for knowledge of the exact mid-point of a
distribution
✓ When extreme values are included in the set of data

3. The Mode – The mode is the number(s) that appear(s) the most out of a
given set of data. A data set can have more than one mode value.
Advantages Disadvantages
1. It is very simple to understand 1. It cannot be determined
2. It is not affected by extremely exactly from a grouped
high or low values frequency distribution
3. It is easily obtained from a 2. A set of data can have more
histogram than one mode
4. It is user friendly
 ✓ When the measure of the central tendency is referred to as a typical or
the most usual or the most fashionable or the most popular.

Questions

1. What is the median of 3, 2, 6, 2, 3, 7 and 4?

2. What is the mean of the numbers 3, 2, 6, 2, 2, 4 and 7?

3. What is the median of 9, 6, 3, 8, 7, 2?

4. If the mean of the four numbers 2, 4, x and 6 is 5, then x is?

5. The average of 5 numbers is 64. What is sixth number is added, the avetage
becomes 66. What is the sixth number?

6. The information below, which shows the raw data of scored obstained by 20
students in a test.

2 6 4 5 4 4 5 8 2 6 5 4 2
5 3 4 5 6 3 5

Complete the frequency table below to represent the above information

Score 2 3 4 5 6 8
Frequency 3 5 3

a. What is the mean?

b. What is the mode?

7. Students is an examination scored the following marks: 87 80 78 77

75 72 71 69 69 64 63 61 59 56 54 53

a. What was the median of the marks?

b. What was mode?

c. What is the median mark?

d. What is the range?

8. The table shows the frequency of scores obtained by 35 students in a

Mathematics examination

Score 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Students 1 2 4 10 7 4 6 1

a. What is the modal score?

b. What is the range of scores?

9.A class of 30 students counted the number of books in their bags on a certain
day. The number of books in each bag is shown below.
5 4 6 3 2 1 7 4 5 3
6 5 4 3 7 6 2 5 4 5
5 7 5 4 3 2 1 6 3 4
a. Copy and complete the frequency table for the table for the data
shown above.
Number of Tally Frequency (𝑓) 𝑓×𝑥
books (𝑥)
1 II 2 2
2 III 3 6
3
4
5
6
7

b. State the modal number of books in the bags of the sample of students
c. Using the table above, or otherwise, calculate
i. The TOTAL number of books
ii. The mean number of books per bag
d. Determine the probability that a student chosen at random has LESS
THAN 4 books in his/her bag

10. A frequency distribution indicating the heights of a sample of people is

shown below
Height Frequency Cumulative
(cm) Frequency
150 1 a. How many persons are in
151 5 the sample
152 10 b. Calculate the mean height of
153 16 the frequency distribution
c. Determine the median
154 10
height
155 6 d. State the modal height
156 2

11.A teacher kept a record of the length of time by which 100 students were late
for class. The results are shown in the following frequency distribution table:

Minutes # of
Late students
0 5
1 9
2 12
3 8
4 17
5 23
6 16
a. State the mode of the distribution
7 10 b. Calculate the median of the distribution
c. Calculate the total time lost by the students
d. Calculate the mean time lost per students, correct
to the nearest minute
e. Calculate the probability that student of the class
chosen at random was late
i. By exactly 6 minutes
ii. By at least 6 minutes
iii. Less than 6 minutes