Cambridge IGCSE® Mathematics

20.2 Cumulative frequency

• Cumulative frequency is a ‘running total’ of the class frequencies up to each upper class boundary.
• When cumulative frequencies are plotted they give a cumulative frequency curve or graph.
• You can use the curve to estimate the median value of the data.
• You can divide the data into four equal groups called quartiles. The interquartile range (IQR) is the difference
between the upper and lower quartiles (Q − Q ). 3 1
• Data can also be divided into 100 equal groups called percentiles. The 50th percentile is equivalent to the median.

Exercise 20.2
1 The table shows the percentage scored by a number of students in a test.
Percentage Number of students
0  m < 10 0
10  m < 20 3
20  m < 30 7
30  m < 40 4
40  m < 50 29
50  m < 60 51
60  m < 70 40
70  m < 80 12
80  m < 90 3
90  m < 100 1

Tip
You will normally be given
a scale to use when you
have to draw a cumulative
frequency curve.
2 This cumulative frequency curve shows the height in
Tip
a Draw a cumulative frequency curve to show this data. Use a scale of 1 cm per ten percent
on the horizontal axis and a scale of 1 cm per ten students on the vertical axis.
b Use your curve to estimate the median, Q1 and Q3.
c Estimate the IQR.
d The pass rate for this test is 40%. What percentage of the students passed the test?
e Indicate the 60th and 80th percentiles on your graph. What do these percentiles
indicate?
Height of professional
basketball players
centimetres of 200 professional basketball players. 200
Cumulative frequency

To find the position

of the quartiles from a a Estimate the median height of players in 150
cumulative frequency this sample.
100
curve, use the formulae n , b Estimate Q1 and Q3.
4
n and 3n . Note that this c Estimate the IQR. 50
2 4 d What percentage of basketball players are
is different to the formulae
used for discrete data. over 1.82 m tall? 0
125 140 155 170 185 200
Height (cm)

142 Unit 5: Data handling

Copyright Material - Review Only - Not for Redistribution