CENTRAL TENDENCIES

BY
HAIDER ABBAS NAQVI
 Learning Outcomes

• After completion of this lecture, students will be able to demonstrate

knowledge regarding the following
• Statistical measures.
• Parameter vs statistic.
• Ungrouped vs Grouped data.
• Measure of central tendencies.
 Statistical Measure of Data
• Statistical measure of data are values (calculated from data), which is
the representation of whole data.
• A statistic is a characteristic or measure obtained by using the data
values from a sample.
• A parameter is a characteristic or measure obtained by using all the data
values from a specific population.
• Statistical measures include the following:
• Measure of Central Tendency
• Measure of Variation
 Statistical Measure of Data
• Measure of central tendency represents the central value or central location of whole
data.
• It is also known as measure of central location or sometimes “averages”.
• We need to find these measures for both ungrouped data and grouped data.
• The tendency of the observations to cluster in the central part of the data set is CENTRAL
TENDENCY.
• It indicates the location or general position of the distribution or the data set in the range
of observations.
• The Measures of Central Tendency or location are generally known as AVERAGES.
• A Measures of Central Tendency should be somewhere within the range of the data and it
should remain unchanged by a rearrangement of the observation s in the different order.
• The measures corresponding to population parameters are generally calculated from
sample data and are regarded as the ESTIMATES of population parameters.
 Central Tendency

Central tendency is a descriptive summary of a dataset through a single value that

reflects the center of the data distribution.

It is a single value that attempts to describe a set of data by identifying the central
position within that set of data.

Along with the dispersion, central tendency is a branch of descriptive statistics.

 Measures of Central Tendencies

• The mean or the arithmetic average is the most commonly used measure of
central tendency, but there are others, such as the median and the mode.

• The mean, median and mode are all valid measures of central tendency, but
under different conditions, some measures of central tendency become more
appropriate to use than others
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
• Mean: The mean is the sum of the values, divided by the total number of
values.

• Example:

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
Mean
• The mean is the sum of the values, divided by the total number of
values.

• Example:
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data

Median
• The median is the halfway point in a data set. Before you can find this
point, the data must be arranged in ascending or increasing order. When
the data set is ordered, it is called a data array.
• The median either will be a specific value in the data set or will fall
between two values.
• The median is the midpoint of the data array. The symbol for the median
is MD.
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
Finding the median:
Step1 : Arrange the data values in ascending order.
Step 2: Determine the number of values in the data set.
Step 3:
a) If n is odd, select the middle data value as the median.
b) If n is even, find the mean of the two middle values. That is, add
them and divide the sum by 2.
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
• Examples:

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
• Examples:

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
• Mode: The value that occurs most often in a data set is called the mode.
• A data set that has only one value that occurs with the greatest
frequency is said to be unimodal.
• If a data set has two values that occur with the same greatest frequency,
both values are considered to be the mode and the data set is said to be
bimodal.
• If a data set has more than two values that occur with the same greatest
frequency, each value is used as the mode, and the data set is said to be
multimodal.
• When no data value occurs more than once, the data set is said to have
no mode.

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
• Examples:

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
• Examples:
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
• Examples:

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Properties and Uses of Central Tendency

• The Mean:
1. The mean is found by using all the values of the data.
2. The mean varies less than the median or mode when samples are taken from
the same population and all three measures are computed for these samples.
3. The mean is used in computing other statistics, such as the variance.
4. The mean for the data set is unique and not necessarily one of the data values.
5. The mean cannot be computed for the data in a frequency distribution that has
an open-ended class.
6. The mean is affected by extremely high or low values, called outliers, and may
not be the appropriate average to use in these situations.

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Properties and Uses of Central Tendency

• The Median:
1. The median is used to find the center or middle value of a data set.
2. The median is used when it is necessary to find out whether the data values fall
into the upper half or lower half of the distribution.
3. The median is used for an open-ended distribution.
4. The median is affected less than the mean by extremely high or extremely low
values.

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Properties and Uses of Central Tendency

• The Mode:
1. The mode is used when the most typical case is desired.
2. The mode is the easiest average to compute.
3. The mode can be used when the data are nominal or categorical, such as
religious preference, gender, or political affiliation.
4. The mode is not always unique. A data set can have more than one mode, or
the mode may not exist for a data set.

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
• Weighted mean:
• Sometimes, you must find the mean of a data set in which not all values
are equally represented.
• This type of mean that considers an additional factor is called the
weighted mean.
• The weighted mean of a variable X can be found by multiplying each
value by its corresponding weight and dividing the sum of the products
by the sum of the weights.

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Measure of Central Tendency for ungrouped data
• Example:

All the text, examples, diagrams are taken from “Elementary Statistics, 10th ed, Allan G.Bluman”.
 Trimmed mean
• A measure of center that is more resistant than the mean but still
sensitive to specific data values is the trimmed mean.
• A trimmed mean is the mean of the data values left after “trimming”
a specified percentage of the smallest and largest data values from
the data set.
• Usually a 5% trimmed mean is used. This implies that we trim the
lowest 5% of the data as well as the highest 5% of the data.
• A similar procedure is used for a 10% trimmed mean.
Median of Grouped Data
Quartiles:
From the definition of median that it is the middle point in the axis frequency
distribution curve, and it divides the area under the curve into two such parts that it has
same area in the left, as in the right. Just like that if we divide the area under the curve
into four equal areas this is called quartiles

Q1 = First Quartile
Q2 = 2nd Quartile = Median
Q3 = 3rd Quartile

Where A1 = A2 = A3 = A4
Deciles:
As like the quartiles if we divide the area into ten equal pieces of area it is called deciles.

D1 = 1st Decile
D2 = 2nd Decile
.
.
D5 = 5th Decile = Median
.
.
.
D9 = 9th Decile
Where A1 = A2 = A3……..=A10
Percentile
Finally, if we divide the area into hundred equal pieces then it will be called percentiles.

To find the quartiles, deciles and percentiles P1 = 1st Percentile

We follow the same procedure as we used to P2 = 2nd Percentile
Find the median .
.
P50 = 50th Percentile = Median
.
.
P99 = 99th Percentile
Where A1 = A2 = A3……..=A100