MODULE 2

MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDANCY

ARITHEMETIC MEAN

A. Arithmetic Mean: The quotient obtained by dividing the total of the values of a variable by
the total number of their observations or items.

1. Individual Series: Series where frequencies are not given

 Direct Method: Mean= ∑x/N

 Shortcut Method: Mean= A + ∑d/N

Illustration 1

Roll. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
No
Marks 30 40 50 60 70 80 50 70 90 50

Solution:

Roll. No. Marks d ( X-A) = (X-

60)
1 30 -30
2 40 -20
3 50 -10
4 60 0
5 70 10
6 80 20
7 50 -10
8 70 10
9 90 30
10 50 -10
590 -10

Direct Method:
Mean =∑x/N = 590/10= 59
Shortcut method
Mean= A + ∑d/N = 60+ -10/10=59

2. Discrete Series: frequencies without class intervals

 Direct method: Mean = ∑fx/N
 Shortcut method: Mean = A+ ∑fd/N ( d = X-A)
 Illustration 2

Find the Average size of Shoes from the given data.

Size of 4 8 12 16 20
Shoe
No. of 6 12 18 15 9
students

Solution:

Size of Shoe f Fx D (X-12) fd

(X)
4 6 24 -8 -48
8 12 96 -4 -48
12(a) 18 216 0 0
16 15 240 4 60
20 9 180 8 72
60 756 36

Direct method: Mean = ∑fx/N = 756/60= 12.6

Shortcut method: Mean = A+ ∑fd/N

= 12+ 36/60 = 12 + 0.6= 12.6

3. Continuous Series: class intervals and frequencies given.

Direct method: Mean = ∑fx/∑f

Shortcut method: Mean= A+ ∑fd/∑f

Step deviation Method: Mean = A+ ∑fd’/∑f x C

Illustration 3

Marks 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80

No. of 8 10 12 20 15 18 17
student
s
Solution
Marks Mid f Fx D(X- fd d’(c=10) Fd’
Values(X) 45)
10-20 15 8 120 -30 -240 -3 -24
20-30 25 10 250 -20 -200 -2 -20
30-40 35 12 420 -10 -120 -1 -12
40-50 45(a) 20 900 0 0 0 0
50-60 55 15 825 10 150 1 15
60-70 65 18 1170 20 360 2 36

70-80 75 17 1275 30 510 3 51

100 4960 460 46

Direct method: Mean = ∑fx/∑f= 4960/100=49.6

Shortcut method: Mean= A+ ∑fd/∑f= 45+460/100

= 45 +4.6= 49.6

Step deviation Method: Mean = A+ ∑fd’/∑f x C

=45+ 46/100x 10

= 45+4.6 = 49.6

Special Cases

illustration 4 (open end class)

Class Below 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 Above

interval 20 70
f 6 10 24 28 14 5 3

Solution

class X F Fx D (X-35) fd D’ (d/10) Fd’

10-20 15 6 90 -20 -120 -2 -12
20-30 25 10 250 -10 -100 -1 -10
30-40 35 24 840 0 0 0 0
40-50 45 28 1260 10 280 1 28
50-60 55 14 770 20 280 2 28
60-70 65 5 325 30 150 3 15
70-80 75 3 225 40 120 4 12
90 3760 610 61
Mean= 35+ 61/90x10 = 41.78

Illustration 5 (Less than and more than)

Value Less Less Less Less Less Less Less Less
than 10 than 20 than 30 than 40 than 50 than 60 than 70 than 80
Frequency 4 16 40 76 96 112 120 125

Solution

Value Mid Value (x) F D( X-35) D’ Fd’

0-10 5 4 -30 -3 -12
10-20 15 12 ( 16-4) -20 -2 -24
20-30 25 24 (40- -10 -1 -24
16)
30-40 35 36 (76- 0 0 0
40)
40-50 45 20 (96- 10 1 20
76)
50-60 55 16 (112- 20 2 32
96)
60-70 65 8 (120- 30 3 24
112)
70-80 75 5 (125- 40 4 20
120)
125 36
Mean = 35 + 36/125 x10= 37.88

Illustration 6 (Cumulative series-more than)

Wages Above 0 Above Above Above Above Above Above Above

10 20 30 40 50 60 70
No. of 675 625 550 450 275 150 75 25
workers

Solution

Wages X F D (x-35) D’(d/10) Fd’

0-10 5 50 (675- -30 -3 -150
625)
10-20 15 75 (625- -20 -2 -150
550)
20-30 25 100 (550- -10 -1 -100
450)
30-40 35 175 (450- 0 0 0
275)
40-50 45 125 (275- 10 1 125
150)
50-60 55 75 (150- 20 2 150
 75)
60-70 65 50 (75-25) 30 3 150
70-80 75 25 40 4 100
675 125
Mean= 35+125/675x10 = 35+1.85 = 36.85

Illustration 7 (when mid values given)

Mid point 20 30 40 50 60
Frequency 4 12 21 13 7

Solution

Class X F Fx
15-25 20 4 80
25-35 30 12 360
35-45 40 21 840
45-55 50 13 650
55-65 60 7 420
57 2350
Note: to find the class divide the difference between mid points by 2 and add and subtract
the resulting figure to mid point to find the class. Eg. Here the difference between mid
points 30-20=10/2=5. Lower class = 20-5= 15 and upper class= 20+5=25.

Mean = 2350/57 = 41.23

Illustration 8 (unequal class)

Marks 0-10 10-30 30-60 60-100

No. of 5 12 20 13
candidates
Note: it is not necessary to equalize unequal classes in case of mathematical averages.

Solution

Class Mid Value F fx

0-10 5 5 25
10-30 20 12 240
30-60 45 20 900
60-100 80 13 1040
50 2205

Mean= 2205/50= 44.1

Illustration 9
Find arithmetic mean.

Class 4-6 7-9 10-12 13-15 16-18 19-21 22-24

F 1 3 7 15 11 3 2

Solution
Note: Difference between upper limit of one class and lower limit of next class is noted. Half
of the difference is deducted from lower limit and added to the upper limit of every class.

class x F Fx
3.5-6.5 5 4 20
6.5-9.5 8 3 24
9.5-12.5 11 7 77
12.5-15.5 14 15 210
15.5-18.5 17 11 187
18.5-21.5 20 8 160
21.5-24.5 23 2 46
50 724

Mean = 724/50 = 14.48

Practical Problems

Q.1. A market with 236 firms has the following distribution of average number of workers in
different income groups:

Income 300-600 600-1000 1000-1600 1600-2400 2400-3600

No.of firms 80 64 52 56 84
No.of 16 24 15 17 8
workers
Find the average income paid to the workers.
Solution
Note: here frequencies are not given. To obtain total number of workers multiply no. of
workers and no. of firms.
Frequency = no. of workers x no. of firms.

income Mid value No. of firms No. of F Fx

workers
300-600 450 80 16 1280 576000
600-1000 800 64 24 1536 1228800
1000-1600 1300 52 15 780 1014000
1600-2400 2000 56 17 952 1904000
2400-3600 3000 84 8 672 2016000
 5220 6738800

Mean = 6738800/5220 = 1290.96

Q.2. Calculate arithmetic mean

Temp ◦C -40 to-30 -30 to-20 -20 to - -10 to 0 0 to 10 10 to 20 20 to 30

10
No of Days 10 28 30 42 65 180 10

Solution

Temperature Mid-Value X No. of Days f fx

-40 to -30 -35 10 -350
-30 to -20 -25 28 -700
-20 to -10 -15 30 -450
-10 to 0 -5 42 -210
0 to 10 5 65 325
10 to 20 10 180 2700
20 to 30 25 10 250
N = 365 ∑fx = 1564

Mean =∑fx/N = 1565/365 = 4.29◦C

Q3. Find the missing frequency. Arithmetic Mean is 34.

Marks 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60

No. of 5 15 20 ? 20 10
students

Solution

Marks Mid Value (X) f Fx

0-10 5 5 25
10-20 15 15 225
20-30 25 20 500
30-40 35 X 35x
40-50 45 20 900
50-60 55 10 550
N= 70+x ∑fx=2200+35x

Mean =34 = 2200+35x/70+x

34(70+x) = 2200+35x
2380+34x = 2200+ 35x
2380-2200= x
 X= 180
Q4. From the following data compute arithmetic average of wages

Wages Below 10 10-30 30-60 60-100 100 & above

No. of 3 4 5 8 10
workers

Solution

Wages Mid Value (x) f Fx

0-10 5 3 15
10-30 20 4 80
30-60 45 5 225
60-100 80 8 640
100-150 125 10 1250
30 2210

Mean = 2210/30 = Rs. 73.67

Combined Mean

X12 = ( N1X1 + N2X2)/ N1+N2

Q5. The mean height of 20 male workers in a factory is 170cms and the mean height of 30
female workers in the same factory is 150cms. Find the combined mean height of 50
workers in the factory.

Solution
Combined mean =( 20x 170 + 30 x 150)/20+30
= 3400+ 4500/50 = 7900/50 = 158cm

Q6. The mean wage of 100 workers working in a factory running two shifts of 60 & 40
workers respectively is 38. The mean wage of 60 workers working in morning shift is 40.find
the mean wage of 40 workers working in the evening shift.

Solution
38=60x40 + 40 x X /60+40
38 = 2400+40x/100
3800 = 2400 + 40x
40x = 3800-2400
X = 1400/40 = 35
Q7. Average rainfall of Munnar from Monday to Saturday was 3cm. Due to heavy rainfall on
Sunday, the average rainfall for the week increased to 5cm. what was the rainfall on
Sunday?

Solution
Mean = ∑x/N
∑x = Mean x N
Total rain fall of 6 days= 3 x 6 = 18cm
Total rainfall on 7 days = 5 x 7= 35cm
Rainfall on Sunday = 35-18 = 17cm

Q7. The mean age of a group of 100 children was 9.35 years. The mean age of 25 of them
was 8.75 years and that of another 65 was 10.50 years. What was the mean age for the
reminder?
Solution
x123 = N1X1 + N2X2 + N3X3 / N1+N2+N3
9.35 = (25x8.75)+(65x10.50)+(10 x X)/25+65+10
9.35 = 218.75 + 682.5+10x/100
9.35 x 100 = 901.25 + 10x
935 - 901.25 = 10x
10x = 33.75
X =33.75/10 = 3.375 years
Hence the age of the reminder was 3.38 years

Q8. The mean annual salary paid to all employees in a factory was Rs.600. The mean annual
salary paid to male and female workers were Rs.620 and Rs. 520 respectively. Obtain the
percentage of male and female workers in the factory.

Solution
Combined mean = 600
Mean salary paid to male workers =620
Mean salary paid to female workers = 520
Number of male workers = N1
Number of female workers = N2
Total number of workers = 100%, ie ., ( N1 +N2)

Sub solution
600 = (N1x620) + 520(100-N1) /100
600 x 100 = 620 N1+52000 – 520 N1
60000 – 52000 = 100 N1
100 N1=8000
N1 =8000/100 =80
N2=100-N1
N2=100-80=20
Percentage of male workers =80
Percentage of female workers =20

Correction in mean
From the total of the values, the incorrect values are first subtracted and then the correct
values are added, this total divided by the number of items to get the correct value of the
mean.

Q.9 The mean mark of 100 students was found to be 50. Later on it was discovered that a
score of 87 was misread as 78. Find the correct Mean.

Solution
∑x = 50 x 100 =5000
Incorrect ∑x = 5000
Correct ∑x = incorrect ∑x – incorrect items + correct item
Correct ∑x = (5000 – 78) + 87 = 5009
Correct mean = correct ∑x/N = 5009/100 = 50.09

Q10. There were 500 workers working in a factory. Their mean wage was calculated as Rs.
200. Later it was discovered that the wage of two workers were misread as 180 and 20
instead of 80 and 220. Find the correct mean.

Solution
Incorrect ∑x= 200 x 500= 100,000
Correct ∑x = incorrect ∑x – incorrect items + correct item
= 100,000 – 200 + 300 = 100,100
Correct Mean = 100100/500 = 200.2