STATISTICS NOTES:
Measures of Central Tendency
Introduction
Measures of central tendency summarize data by identifying a single value that represents the center or
typical value of a dataset. The three key measures are:
1. Mean
2. Median
3. Mode
These measures can be calculated for both ungrouped data (raw data) and grouped data (data organized
into frequency distributions).
1. Mean (Arithmetic Average)
For Ungrouped Data
The mean is the sum of all data values divided by the number of values.
Formula:
∑ xi
Mean(x) =
n
Where:
• xi = each data value
• 𝑛 = total number of data points
Example 1: Find the mean of the data set: 5,10,15,20,255, 10, 15, 20, 25.
5 + 10 + 15 + 20 + 25 75
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛 = = = 15
5 5
For Grouped Data
The mean is calculated using the midpoints of the class intervals.
Formula:
∑ fi x i
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛(𝑥) =
∑ fi
Where:
• fi = frequency of each class
• xi = midpoint of each class
Example 2: Calculate the mean for the frequency table below:
Class Interval (xx) Frequency (ff) Midpoint (xix_i) fixif_ix_i
0–10 4 5 20
10–20 6 15 90
20–30 5 25 125
30–40 3 35 105
∑ fi xi 20+90+125+105 340
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛(𝑥) = ∑ fi
= = = 18.89
4+6+5+3 18
2. Median (Middle Value)
For Ungrouped Data
The median is the middle value when the data is arranged in ascending order.
• If n is odd, the median is the middle value.
• If n is even, the median is the average of the two middle values.
Example 1: Find the median of 12, 15, 10, 20, 25.
1. Arrange the data: 10,12,15,20,25
2. Since 𝑛 = 5 (odd), the median is the 3rd value: 15.
Example 2: Find the median of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18.
1. Arrange the data: 8,10,12,14,16,18
2. Since n = 6 (even), the median is the average of the 3rd and 4th values:
12 + 14
Median = = 13
2
For Grouped Data
The median is calculated using the cumulative frequency of the dataset.
Formula:
n
− CF
Median = L + (2 )×h
fm
• L = lower boundary of the median class
• n = total frequency
• CF = cumulative frequency before the median class
• fm = frequency of the median class
• h = class width
Example 3: Calculate the median for the frequency table below:
Class Interval (xx) Frequency (ff) Cumulative Frequency (CFCF)
0–10 5 5
10–20 8 13
20–30 10 23
30–40 7 30
Solution:
n
n = 30 ⇒ = 15
2
The median class is 20– 30, as 15 lies between 𝐶𝐹 = 13 𝑎𝑛𝑑 23.
𝐿 = 20, fm = 10, 𝐶𝐹 = 13, ℎ = 10
15 − 13
median = 20 + ( ) × 10 = 20 + 2 = 22
10
3. Mode (Most Frequent Value)
For Ungrouped Data
The mode is the value that appears most often.
Example 1: Find the mode of 4,5,6,6,7,8
The value 6 appears most often, so the mode is 6.
For Grouped Data
The mode is calculated using the following formula:
Formula:
fm − f1
𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒 = 𝐿 + ( )×h
(fm − f1 )(fm − f2 )
Where:
• 𝐿 = lower boundary of modal class
• fm = frequency of the modal class
• f1 = frequency of the class before the modal class
• f2 = frequency of the class after the modal class
• ℎ = class width
Example 2: Calculate the mode for the table below:
Class Interval (xx) Frequency (ff)
0–10 3
10–20 7
20–30 12
30–40 8
Solution:
The modal class is 20–3020–30 (highest frequency).
𝐿 = 20, 𝑓𝑚 = 12, 𝑓1 = 7, 𝑓2 = 8, ℎ = 10
12 − 7 5 5
𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒 = 20 + ( ) × 10 = 20 + ( ) × 10 = 20 + ( ) × 10 = 20 + 5.56
(12 − 7) + (12 − 8) 5+4 9
= 25.56
Summary of Formulas
Measure Ungrouped Data Grouped Data
∑𝑥𝑖 ∑𝑓𝑖 𝑥𝑖
Mean
𝑛 ∑𝑓𝑖
𝑛
𝐶𝐹
Median Middle value or average of two middles 𝐿 + (2 ) × ℎ
𝑓𝑚
𝑓𝑚 − 𝑓1
Mode Most frequent value 𝐿+( )
(𝑓𝑚 − 𝑓1 ) + (𝑓𝑚 − 𝑓2 )