Arithematic Mean

For
B A Final Economics
Paper II A – Quantitative Techniques

From
Dr. M R Singariya
Associate Professor
Department of Economics
S D Government College Beawar
 Definition
The arithmetic mean of a set of n numbers is defined simply as
their sum divided by n.
Example:
Given that the total attendance at major league baseball games
in the years 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968 was, respectively, 22.4,
25.2, 23.8, and 23.0 million, we find that the mean, namely, the
"average" annual attendance for these four years was
(22.4+25.2+23.8+23.0)/4= 23.6 million
In order to develop a simple formula for the mean that is
applicable to any set of data, it will be necessary to represent the
figures (measurements or observations) to which the formula is
to be applied with some generalmbols such as x, y, or z. In the
above example, we could have represented the annual attendance
figures with the letter x and referred to the four values as x1 (x
sub-one), x2 (x sub-two), x3, and x4.
 Cont.
More generally, if we have n measurements which we designate
x1, x2, x3, ..., and xn,, we can write
Mean x =(x1+x2+…..+xn)/n
• This formula is perfectly general and it will take care of any set
of data, but it is still somewhat cumbersome. To make it more
compact, we introduce the symbol Σ (capital sigma, the Greek
letter for S), which is simply a mathematical shorthand notation
indicating the process of summation or addition.
• If we write Σx, this represents the "sum of the x's ," and we
have x‾=Σ xi/n
• Using the sigma notation in this form, the number of terms to be
added is not stated explicitly; it is tacitly understood, however,
to refer to all the X's with which we happen to be concerned. .
 Cont.
• For a further discussion of the use of subscripts and the Σ notation,
we shall finish simplifying our notation by assigning a special
symbol to the mean itself.
• If we look upon the x's as a sample, we write their mean as x‾(x-
bar);
• if we look upon them as a population, we write their mean as μ .If we
refer to sample data as y's or z's, we correspondingly write their
means as y or z. To further emphasize the distinction between
samples and populations, we denote the number of values in a
sample, the sample size, with the letter n and the number of values in
a population, the population size, with the letter N. We thus have the
formulas
• the formulas x =Σxi/n , μ=Σxi/N ,
• x=Σxi/n , x=Σxi/n , μ=Σxi/N ,
• .
 Cont.
• Depending on whether we are dealing with a sample or a
population. In order to distinguish between descriptions
of samples and descriptions of populations, statisticians
not only use different symbols, but they refer to the first
as statistics and the second as parameters. Hence, we say
that x is a statistic and that μ is a parameter. The
popularity of the mean as a measure describing the
"middle" or "center" of a set of data is not just accidental.
Anytime we use a single number to describe a set of data,
there are certain desirable properties we must keep in
mind
 Properties of the Mean
• (1) it is familiar to most persons, although they may not call it by
this name,
• (2) it always exists, that is, it can be calculated for any kind of
numerical data,
• (3) it is always unique, or in other words, a set of data has one
and only one mean,
• (4) it takes into account each individual item ,
• (5) it lends itself to further statistical manipulation , (it is possible
to combine the means of several sets of data into an over-all
mean without having to refer back to the original raw data), and
• (6) it is relatively reliable in the sense that it does not vary too
much when repeated samples are taken from one and the same
population, at least not as much as some other kinds of statistical
descriptions
 Question for Practice
• The following are the number of seconds which 16
insects survived after being sprayed with a certain
insecticide: 121, 115, 79, 52, 102, 126, 81, 65, 109,
119, 115, 121, 103, 75, 59, and 110.
• (a) Calculate the mean of these 16 measurements.
• (b) Recalculate the mean of these 16 measurements
by first subtracting 100 from each value, finding the
mean of the numbers thus obtained, and then adding
100 to the result.
 The mean of a distribution
• To obtain a formula for the mean of a distribution, let us write the
successive class marks as x1,, x2, ..., xk (assuming that there are k
classed and the corresponding class frequencies as fl, f2, . . ., fk .
• The total that goes into the numerator of the formula for the mean
is thus obtained by adding f1 times the value x1, f2 times the
value x2, . . ., and fk. times the value xk; in other words, it is
equal to x1f1 + x2f2 +. . . + xkfk.
• Using the Σ notation, we can now write the formula for the mean
of a distribution .
• X=Σxi . fi /Σ fi,
• where n equals f1 + f2 +. ..+ fk, the sum of the class frequencies,
or Σ fi. (When dealing with a population instead of a sample, we
have only to substitute μ for x in this formula and N for n.)
 Example- Mean by Direct Method
• To illustrate the calculation of
the mean of a distribution, let
us refer again to the
distribution of the scores of
the 150 applicants
• x‾=8505.0/150=56.7
Example- Mean by short cut Method
X F X MV A=44.5 FdX
X dx=(X-A)/i

0-9 5 0-9.5 4.5 -4 -20 X=A+Σxi . fi /Σ fi

10-19 7 9.5-19.5 14.5 -3 -21 = A +(ΣFdX/N)x i
20-29 9 19.5-29.5 24.5 -2 -18 = 44.5+(166/147)x10
30-39 13 29.5-39.5 34.5 -1 -13
= 44.5+12.29
40-49 23 39.5-49.5 44.5 0 0
50-59 25 49.5-59.5 54.5 +1 +25
=56.79
60-69 21 59.5-69.5 64.5 +2 +42 Mean = 56.79
70-79 17 69.5-79.5 74.5 +3 +51
80-89 15 79.5-89.5 84.5 +4 +60
90-99 12 89.5-99.5 94.5 +5 +60
Total 147 166
Example- Mean by short cut Method
X F MV A=145 FdX
X dx=(X-A)/i
X = A +(ΣFdX/N)x i
100-110 4 105 -4 -16

110-120 16 115 -3 -48

= 145+(-51/255)x10
120-130 36 125 -2 -72
= 145+(-0.20)x10
130-140 52 135 -1 -52 = 145 - 2.0
140-150 64 145 0 0 = 143
150-160 40 155 +1 +40

160-170 32 165 +2 +64

170-180 11 175 +3 +33

Total 255 -51

 From the followng table fill up the missing
frequency taking mean 9.88
Group Frequency
(F)
Mid
Value (X)
FX
• X = ΣFX/N
0-4 20 2 40 X = 9.88 is given
9.88=(780+10X)/78+X
4-8 18 6 108 9.88 x 78+ X= 768+10X
770.64 + 9.88X=768+10X
8-12 X 10 10X
770.64 - 768 = 10X -
12-16 25 14 350 9.88X
2.64 = 0.12X
16-20 15 18 270 X = 2.64/0.12
Total 78+X 768+10X
X = 22
Thus missing frequncy is 22