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Measure of central tendency

Introduction
One of the most important objectives of statistical
analysis is to get one single value that describe the
characteristic of the entire mass of unwieldy data. Such value
is called the ‘Central Value’ or an ‘Average’ or the ‘Expected
Value’ of the variable.

Average
“Average is an attempt to find one single figure to
describe whole of figures”. The single figure is called
“summary statistics”
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Objectives of Averaging

(i) To get single value that describes the

characteristic of the entire group
(ii) To facilitate Comparison

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Types of Averages

 Arithmetic mean: (i) Simple, and (ii) Weighted.

 Median
 Mode
 Geometric mean
 Harmonic mean

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 Arithmetic Mean
The most popular and widely used measure of
representing the entire data by one value is what
laymen call an ‘average’ and what the
statisticians call the Arithmetic Mean.

Its value is obtained by adding together all the

items and dividing this total by the number of
items.

Arithmetic mean may either be

(i) Simple Arithmetic mean or
(ii) Weighted arithmetic mean.
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Calculation of Simple Arithmetic Mean
(Individual Observations)

X1 + X2 + X3 + . . . + X n
X = ----------------------------------- or
N
∑X
X = ------
Where X = Arithmetic Mean
N ∑ X = Sum of all the values of the variables X,
N = Number of observations.

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Calculation of Arithmetic Mean
(Discrete Series)
∑⌠X
X = -----------
N

Where ⌠ = Frequency
X = The variables
N = Total number of observations, ie., ∑ ⌠

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Calculation of Arithmetic Mean
(Continuous series)

∑⌠m
X = ------------
N

Where m = mid-point of various class

⌠ = the frequency of each class
N = the total frequency

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Arithmetic Mean – (Short-Cut Method)

∑⌠d
X = A + ----------
N

When A = Assumed Mean

d = deviations of mid-points from
Assumed Mean i.e.., ( m – A )
N = Total number of observations
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Calculation of Weighted Arithmetic Mean

∑WX
Weighted Mean Xw = ----------------
∑W

Where W are the weights assigned to variable X

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The weighted mean enables us to calculate an average that takes
into account the importance of each value to the overall total.

Labour Hours per Unit of Output

Grade of Labour Hourly Wages (x) Product-1 Product-2

Labour Input in
Unskilled Rs. 5.00 1 4
Manufacturing
Semiskilled Rs. 7.00 2 3
Process Skilled Rs. 9.00 5 3

Product-1
Weighted Mean: [(Rs.5.00x1)+(Rs.7.00x2)+(Rs.9.00x5)] / (1+2+5) = Rs.8.00/hour

Product-2
Weighted Mean: [(Rs.5.00x4)+(Rs.7.00x3)+(Rs.9.00x3)] / (4+3+3) = Rs.6.80/hour

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Calculation of Arithmetic Mean in case of
Open-end Class
Example (i)
Marks No. of students Marks No. of students
Below 10 4 30-40 15
10-20 6 40-50 8
20-30 10 Above 50 7

Note: In the above case since the class interval is uniform, the
appropriate assumption would be that the lower limit of the first
class is zero and the upper limit of the last class is 60.
The first class thus would be 0-10 and the last class is 50-60

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Example (ii)

Marks No. of Students Marks No. of Students

Below 10 4 60-100 7
10-30 6 Above 100 3
30-60 10

Note: In the above case since the class interval is 20 in the second
class, 30 in the third class, 40 in the fourth class, ie., it is
increasing by 10. The appropriate assumption would be that
the lower limit of of the first class is ZERO and the upper
limit of the class is 150.
In other words, the first class is 0-10 and the last one is
100-150

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 Combined Mean of Two Groups

N1 X1 + N2 X2
X12 = -----------------------
N1 + N2

Where X12 = Combined Means of the Two Groups

X1 = Arithmetic Mean of First Group
X2 = Arithmetic Mean of the Second Group
N1 = Number of items in the First Group
N2 = Number of items in the Second Group

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 MEDIAN

“The Median by definition refers to the middle value

in a distribution.”

“The median is the of middle observation when the

series is arranged in order of size or magnitude.”

“The median is that value of the variable which

divide the group into Two equal parts, one part
comprises all values greater, and the other values
less than the median.”

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Example: (for odd number of observations)

If the income of five employees is Rs.900, 950,

1020, 1200,and 1280 the Median would be 1020
900
950
1020 Value at middle position of array
1200
1280

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Example: (for even number of observations)

In the case we are given the income of Six

employees as 900, 950, 1020, 1200,1280, 1300, the
Median Income would be:
900
950
1020 There are Two middle position values
1200
1280
1300 1020 + 1200
Median = -------------------- = 1110
2
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Calculation of Median –
(Individual Observations)

 For individual series, the median is equal to the measure

of N + 1 th item.
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When N is odd, Median is one of the item within the series,
but when N is even, the median is the Arithmetic Mean of
the Two values.

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Discrete Series

find the cumulative frequencies and then calculate

the measure of N + 1 th item.
2

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 Grouped Data
The following formula may be used to locate the
value of Median
N/2 – c.f
Median = L + -------------- X i
f
use N/2 as the rank of the Median
Where L = Lower limit of the Median class
c.f = Cumulative frequency of the class
preceding the Median class
f = Simple frequency of the Median class
i = The class interval of the Median class
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Related Positional Measures
Besides Median, there are other measures which
divide a series into equal parts. Important among
these are
Quartiles, Deciles and Percentiles
Quartiles: (Q)
Quartiles are those values of the variate which divide the
total frequency into Four equal parts.
Deciles: (D)
Deciles divide the total frequency into 10 equal parts.
Percentiles: (P)
Percentiles divide the total frequency into 100 equal parts.

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Computation of Quartiles, Percentiles &
Deciles
N+1
Q1 (First Quartile) = Size of -------- th item (Individual and
2 Discrete Series)
N
Q1 (First Quartile) = Size of ------ th item (Continuous series)
4
3(N+1)
Q3 (Third Quartile) = Size of ------------ th item (Individual and
4 Discrete Series)
3N
Q3 (Third Quartile) = Size of -------- th item (Continuous series)
4 23
 4 (N+1)
D4 (Fourth Decile) = Size of ------------- th item (Individual and
10 Discrete Series)

4N
D4 (Fourth Decile) = Size of --------- th item (Continuous series)
10

60 (N+1)
P60 (Percentile) = Size of -------------- th item (Individual and
100 Discrete Series)

60 N
P60 (Percentile) = Size of --------- th item (Continuous series)
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100
 MODE
The Mode or the Modal Value in a series of
Observations which occurs with the greatest
frequency.
Example: Individual Series
The Mode of series 3, 5, 8, 5, 4, 5, 9, 3 would
be 5, since this value occurs more frequently than
any of the others.
Example: Discrete Series
Size of shoes 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
No.of persons 10 20 25 40 22 15 6
The Modal size is ‘8’ since it appears maximum
number of times in the series.
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Diagram

Y
Fr
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

O
Mode X

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 Calculation of Mode – Continuous Series
∆1
Mo = L + ---------------- X i
∆1 + ∆2

Where, L = Lower limit of the Modal Class

∆1= the diff. between the frequency of the
Modal Class and the frequency of the
Pre-Modal Class (Ignoring Signs)
∆2= the diff. between the frequency of the
Modal Class and the frequency of the
Post-Modal Class (Ignoring Signs)
i = the class interval of the Modal Class.

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 Bimodal

There may be two values which occur with

equal frequency. The distribution is then called
Bimodal.
Where mode is ill-defined, its value may be
ascertained by the following formula based upon
the relationship between Mean, Median and Mode:

Mode = 3 Median – 2 Mean

This measure is called the Empirical Mode

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 GEOMETRIC MEAN
Sometimes when we are dealing with quantities that change over a period of time, we
need to know an average rate of change, such as an average growth rate over a
period of several years. In such cases, the simple arithmetic mean is inappropriate,
because it gives the wrong answers. What we need to find is the geometric mean,
simply called the G.M.

Year Interest Rate Growth Factor Savings at End of Year

1
Growth of Rs.100 7% 1.07 Rs.107.00
Deposit in a 2 8% 1.08 Rs.115.56
Saving Account3 10% 1.10 Rs.127.12
4 12% 1.12 Rs.142.37
5 18% 1.18 Rs.168

The simple arithmetic mean growth factor would be (1.07+1.08+1.10+1.12+1.18)/5=1.11

which corresponds to an average interest rate of 11% per year.
Rs.100x1.11x1.11x1.11x1.11x1.11=Rs.168.51
To find the correct average growth factor, we can multiply together the 5 years’ growth
factors and then the fifth root of the product
n
G.M = √ Product of all x values
5
= √ 1.07x1.08x1.10x1.12x1.18 = 1.1093 Average growth factor (the

Geometric mean of the 5 growth factors)

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Saving at end of year = Rs.100x1.1093x1.1093x1.1093x1.1093x1.1093= Rs.168/-
 GEOMETRIC MEAN
Geometric Mean is defined as the Nth root of the
product of N items.

N
G.M. = √ (X1) x (X2) x (X3) x . . . (Xn)

log X1 + log X2 + . . . + log Xn

log G.M = ------------------------------------------
N

∑ log X
G.M = Anti log --------------
N
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Discrete Series
∑ ⌠ log X
G.M = Anti log --------------
N

Continuous Series
∑ ⌠ log m
G.M = Anti log --------------
N

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 HARMONIC MEAN

It is defined as the reciprocal of the arithmetic

mean of the reciprocal of the individual
observations.
N
H.M. = ---------------------------------------
1 1 1 1
---- + ---- + ---- + . . . + ----
X1 X2 X3 Xn

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Individual Series
N
H.M = ----------------
∑(1∕X)

Discrete Series
N
H.M = ---------------------
∑ ⌠ x 1∕X
Continuous Series
N
H.M = ----------------------
∑ ⌠ x 1∕m
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Weighted Harmonic Mean

∑W
H.M = -----------------
∑(W∕X)

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Relationship Among The Averages

A.M ≥ G.M ≥ H.M

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