MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

Introduction:
A measure of central tendency is a single value that attempts to describe a set
of data by identifying the central position within that set of data. As such, measures
of central tendency are sometimes called measures of central location. They are also
classed as summary statistics. The mean (often called the average) is most likely the
measure of central tendency that you are most familiar with, but there are others,
such as the median and the mode.

Learning Outcome:
At the end of this lesson the learners should be able to compute the mean,
median, and mode of a given set of data for both “grouped” and “ungrouped” data.

Learning Content:

Measure of Central Tendency (ungrouped data)

A measure of central tendency is a single value that is used to describe or represent

a data or the center of the data.

Reminder:
The data that give information on each member of the population or sample
individually are called ungrouped data

Example:
1 2 1 1 3 4 4 1 0 0 3 2
4 1 1 1 4 2 0 0

MEAN

The arithmetic mean, often called as the mean, is the sum of all the data
values in a data set divided by the total number of data values.
It is what most people call an average, it is the most frequently used measure
of central tendency because it is subject to less error; it is also easily calculated.

where:
represents the Mean (called as x
=
bar)
= the sum of all values

= the total number of values

Examples:

1. The following are the ages of selected 8 employees in a company: 53, 32, 61, 27,
39, 44, 49, and 57. Find the average age of the employees.

Solution:

53 + 32 + 61 + 27 + 39 + 44 + 49+
=
57
8
= 45.3

2. The data show the number of patients in six hospitals who acquired an infection
while hospitalized: 110, 76, 29, 38, 105, and 39. Find the mean.

110 + 76 + 29 + 38 +
=
105 + 39
6
= 66.17

MEDIAN

The median is a measure of central tendency that is the middle value or the
middle term in a data set that has been ranked in increasing (or decreasing) order.
It divides an ordered set of observation into two equal parts, if an
observation/ data value is smaller than the median, then it belongs in the lower half
of the ordered data; and if an observation is larger than the median, then it belongs
in the upper half of the ordered data.

To determine the median, we need to consider these rules:

1. Arrange the samples (n) in ascending or descending orders.
2. If n is odd, the median is the middle ranked.
3. If n is even, the median is the average of the two middle ranked values.
Examples:

1. The following are the total receipts of 7 mining companies (in million pesos). Find
the median of this receipts.

Solution:
Given: 1.3, 6.6, 10.5, 12.6, 50.7, 4.7, 7.3
Arranged: 1.3, 4.7, 6.6, 7.3, 10.5, 12.6, 50.7

Since n = 7 is odd,
therefore, the Median is the middle value which is
7.3

2. The following are the number of years of operation of 8 mining companies: 9, 11,
16, 12, 17, 20, 18, and 19.

Solution:
Given: 9, 11, 16, 12, 17, 20, 18, 19
Arranged: 9, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

Since n = 8 is even,
therefore, the Median is the average of the two
middle values which are 16 and 17, and that is
16.5

MODE

The Mode is a French word that means fashion—an item that is most popular
or common.
In statistics, the mode represents the most common value in a data set. It is
the data value that occurs with the greatest frequency in a data set.

▪ A data set that has the only one value that occur with greatest frequency is
said to be unimodal
▪ If the data has two values with the same greatest frequency, both values are
considered the mode and the data set is bimodal.
▪ If a data set have more than two modes, and the data set is said to be
multimodal.
▪ There are some cases when a data set values have the same number of
frequencies, when this occur, the data set is said to be no mode.
Examples:

1. We consider the heights in inches of 10 basketball players:

70 70 71 71 72 72 72 72 75 75

Therefore, 72 is the mode. This implies that the most frequent height among the
10 basketball players is 72 inches.
Since the data set has only one value occurring with the highest frequency then
the data set is UNIMODAL.

2. The data show the number of licensed teachers in the Philippines for a recent
15-year period. Find the mode.

104, 104, 104, 104, 104, 107, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109,
110, 111, 111, 112

Therefore, 104 and 109 are the modes, and;

Since the data set has two values occurring with the highest frequency then the
data set is BIMODAL.

3. The ages of 10 randomly selected students from a class are 21, 19, 27, 22, 29,
19, 25, 21, 22, and 30 years, respectively. Find the mode.

19, 19, 21, 21, 22, 22, 25, 27, 29, 30

Therefore, 19, 21, and 22 are the modes.

Since the data set has three value occurring with the highest frequency then the
data set is MULTIMODAL.

4. Consider the scores of 15 students in a quiz.

16, 16, 16, 17, 17, 17, 18, 18, 18, 19, 19, 19, 20, 20, 20

There is NO MODE since all the observed values have the same frequencies of
occurrence. Sometimes, the mode does not exist.
Measure of Central Tendency (grouped data)

A measure of central tendency is a single value that is used to describe or represent

a data or the center of the data.

Reminder:

▪ The data that are presented in the form of a frequency distribution table are
called grouped data
Example:

Age Tally Frequency

11 - 20 IIIII 5
IIIII-IIIII-IIIII-IIIII-IIIII-IIIII-
21 - 30 51
IIIII-IIIII-IIIII-IIIII-I
31 - 40 IIIII-IIIII-IIIII-IIIII-IIIII-IIII 29
41 - 50 IIIII-IIIII-I 11
51 - 60 IIII 4

Let us use the table 1 as an example of grouped data and get the mean, median,
and mode using this table

Cumulative
Class Class Midpoint Frequency
Tally (fX) Frequency
Interval Boundary (X) (f)
(<cf)

IIIII-IIIII-
18 - 23 17.5 - 23.5 20.5 22 451 22
IIIII-IIIII-II
IIIII-IIIII-
24 - 29 23.5 - 29.5 26.5 IIIII-IIIII- 30 795 52
IIIII-IIIII
IIIII-IIIII-
30 - 35 29.5 - 35.5 32.5 23 747.5 75
IIIII-IIIII-III
36 - 41 35.5 - 41.5 38.5 IIIII-IIIII-II 12 462 87
42 - 47 41.5 - 47.5 44.5 IIIII-I 6 267 93
48 - 53 47.5 - 53.5 50.5 IIII 4 202 97
54 - 59 53.5 - 59.5 56.5 III 3 169.5 100
3094
Total Frequency: 100
(Table 1)
MEAN

Mean of grouped data

Where :
X = sample mean

X=
 fX f = frequency
n X = midpoint
 fX = sum of all the product of frequency and midpoint
n = total number of frequencies in a sample

The steps in computing the mean of a grouped data:

Step 1: Compute the midpoints of all class limits which is given the symbol X.
Step 2: Multiply each midpoint by the corresponding frequency.
Step 3: Sum of the products of midpoints and frequencies.
Step 4: Divide this sum by the total number of frequencies or the size of the data
set to obtain the mean.

Now going back to our table 1, let’s try this step for us to get the mean of the given
grouped data in the table.

Since the step 1, step 2, and step 3 is already given on table 1, then lets proceed to
the step 4, or simply we are just using the formula;

So we have,

X =
 fX
n
3094
X =
100
X = 30.94
MEDIAN
To find the median of a grouped data, we first determine the median class of the
frequency distribution table.

Median Class (Md) = the class interval in the frequency distribution where the
median is located.
Median of grouped data
n 
 2 − cf Md −1 
x = LCBMd +C  
 f Md 
 
Where :
LCBMd = lower class boundary of the median class
C = class width of the frequency distribution
n
= number of observations divided by 2
2
cf Md −1 = less than cumulative frequency before the median class
f Md = frequency of the median class

The steps in computing the median of a grouped data;

Step 1: Calculate n/2 by dividing the total number of observation by 2.

Step 2: Construct the less than cumulative frequency distribution (<Cf).
Step 3: Starting from the lowest class interval or class limit locate the first value in
<Cf column that is greater than or equal to n/2. The class interval corresponding to
that value is the median class.
Step 4: Calculate the median using the formula.

Again, using the table 1 as an example to get the median of a grouped data,

n 100
Step 1: = = 50th position
2 2

Step 2: we have already less than cumulative frequency constructed.

Step 3: since n/2 = 50 th position then the first value in <Cf that is greater than or
equal to 50 is the 2 nd row which has the value of 52. So, the Median Class is 23.5
– 29.5
Step 4: Calculate median using the formula,

 50 − 22 
n  x = 23.5 + 6  
 30 
 2 − cf Md −1 
x = LCBMd +C   x = 23.5 + 6 ( 0.9333 )
 f Md 
  x = 23.5 + 5.6
x = 29.1
MODE
Mode from grouped data in a form of frequency distribution is applicable when
the number of cases/observation (N) is 30 or more

To find the mode of a grouped data, we first determined the modal class of the
frequency distribution.

Modal class (Mo) = the class interval in the frequency distribution with the
highest frequency
Mode of grouped data
 f Mo − f1 
xˆ = LCB Mo + C  
 2 f Mo − f1 − f 2 
Where :
LCBMo = lower class boundary of the modal class
C = class size/width
f Mo = frequency of the modal class
f1 = frequency of the class before the modal class
f 2 = frequency of the class after the modal class

Steps in computing the mode of a grouped data;

Step 1: Locate the modal class. For frequency distributions with equal sizes, the
modal class is the class interval with the highest frequency
Step 2: Compute the mode using the formula.

Getting the mode for table 1,

first we need to know the modal class, 30 is the highest frequency among all
classes, so the frequency of modal class is 30, then the frequency before the modal
class is 22 and the frequency following the modal class is 23.

Second calculate the mode using the formula;

 f Mo − f1 
xˆ = LCB Mo + C  
 2 f Mo − f1 − f 2 
 30 − 22 
xˆ = 23.5 + 6  
 60 − 22 − 23 
xˆ = 23.5 + 6 ( 0.533333...)
xˆ = 23.5 + 3.2
xˆ = 26.7
Name: ____________________________________________ Score: ___________
Course/Year/Section/Major: ______________________ Date: ____________

MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY (UNGROUPED DATA)

I. Find the Mean, Median, and Mode of the ungrouped data.

A survey was made to determine the ages that owns a car in 20 households in
Barangay Sta. Elena, Marikina City. The following results were recorded:

18 23 21 34 28
24 21 31 32 22
36 28 37 30 23
41 45 42 50 24

RUBRICS:
Score 0 1 3 5
- No answer - Answer only - Answer with - Organize
solution work, with
complete
Indicators
solution,
formula, and
conclusion
 MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCY (GROUPED DATA)

II. Find the Mean, Median, and Mode of the grouped data.

1) The table presents the frequency distribution of the weight of 75 pcs of luggage
in pounds. Find the mean, median, and mode weight of the luggage.

Weight in No. of luggage (

Midpoint ( X ) fX <Cf
pounds f)
31.5 – 41.5 9
41.5 – 51.5 8
51.5 – 61.5 4
61.5 – 71.5 32
71.5 – 81.5 14
81.5 – 91.5 5
91.5 – 101.5 3

Mean Median Mode

RUBRICS:
Score 0 2 5
- No answer - incorrect/ not - Correct/ simplified answer
simplified answer - With complete
Indicators
- With computations computations and solution
and solutions - With interpretation
References:

o Sirug W. (2018). Mathematics in the Modern World. Rm.108, Intramuros

Corporate Plaza Bldg., Manila, Philippines 1002. Mindshapers Co., Inc.
o Aufmann R. (2018). Mathematics in the Modern World. Sampaloc, Manila,
Philippines. Rex Bookstore, Inc.
o Aufmann, Richard N., Lockwood, Joanne, Nation, Richard D., and Clegg,
Daniel K. (2012). Mathematical Excursions, Third Edition. Brook/Cole, Cengage
Learning: USA
o https://statistics.laerd.com/statistical-guides/measures-central-tendency-
mean-mode-median.php
o https://centergrove.instructure.com/courses/1823759/pages/module-7-
measures-of-central-tendency