CHAPTER IV
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
any single value which is used to identify the “center” of the
data or the typical value; it is oftentimes referred to as the
average
The Mean
• sum of all values of the observations divided by
the
number of observations in the data set
Population Mean (for a finite population):
sum of the observations
m=
size of the population (N)
Sample Mean:
sum of the observations
X =
size of the sample (n)
Example:
The achievement test scores in Math of all 50 freshmen students from
a certain college are as follows:
43 51 53 55 57 58 58 59 61 61
61 62 63 64 65 65 66 66 67 68
68 69 69 69 69 70 70 70 71 71
72 73 73 74 74 75 76 76 77 78
79 79 81 82 82 85 87 89 91 96
The mean of this population is :
43 + 51 + . . . + 91 + 96 3498
= = = 69.96
50 50
Suppose that a sample of seven students from this college yielded
the following observations:
70 , 82 , 77 , 96 , 55 , 85 , 64
The corresponding sample mean is
70 + 82 + 77 + 96 + 55 + 85 + 64
X = = 75.57
7
Suppose another sample of students of the same size was taken
and resulted to the following scores:
58 , 72 , 77 , 89 , 63 , 85 , 51
The sample mean is given by
58 + 72 + 77 + 89 + 63 + 85 + 51
X = = 70.714
7
Characteristics of the Mean
• It is the most familiar measure of central
tendency used, and it employs all available
information.
• It is strongly influenced by extreme values.
• Since the mean is a calculated number, it may
not be an actual number in the data set.
• It can be applied to data that are measured in
at least interval level.
b. The following are the number of years of operation of 8 manufacturing
companies:
8 , 10 , 17 , 18 , 11 , 16 , 17 , 10
The array is given by
8 , 10 , 10 , 11 , 16 , 17 , 17 ,18
The median is
11 + 16
Md = = 13.5
2
Characteristics of the Median
• It is a positional measure.
• It is not influenced by extreme values.
• It can be applied to data that are measured in at least
ordinal level.
The Mode
• the value in the data set that occurs with the greatest
frequency
Example:
A psychologist has developed a new technique intended to
improve rote memory. To test the method against other
standard methods, 30 high school students representing
three sections are selected at random, and each is taught the
new technique. The students are then asked to memorize a
list of 100 word phrases using the technique. The following
are the number of word phrases memorized correctly by the
students from each section:
Section 1: 83 64 98 66 83 87 83
93 86 80 93 83 75
Section 2: 87 76 96 77 94 92 88
85 66 89
Section 3: 68 84 79 79 84 75 80
Define the mode for each set in the context of this problem .
Section Mode
1 83
2 does not exist
3 84 and 79
Characteristics of the Mode
• It is the easiest to interpret among measures of central
tendency.
• It is not affected by extreme values.
• It does not always exist; if it does, it may not be unique.
If a data set has two modes, we call it bimodal, if there
are three modes, we call it trimodal and so on.
• One advantage of the mode is that it can be applied to
observations that are measured in the nominal level.
MEASURES OF ABSOLUTE DISPERSION
measures of dispersion that are expressed in the units of the
original observations; cannot be used to compare variation of
two or more data sets when the observations differ in the units
of measurement or when the values of the averages differ in
magnitude
The Range
• the difference between the largest and smallest
values in a data set
Example:
The data from 15 measurements of the traffic noise level at an
intersection are given below.
52.0 56.4 60.6 61.0 67.9
54.4 61.7 77.1 56.8 67.1
60.5 57.2 59.8 64.0 64.8
The range is given by
Range (R) = 77.1 52.0 = 25.1
Characteristics of the Range
• It is the simplest measure of dispersion.
• It is sensitive to extreme value.
• It fails to communicate any information about the
clustering or the lack of clustering of the values
between the extremes.
The Standard Deviation
• a measure of dispersion which indicate the extent of
scattering of the observations from the mean
• the square root of the average squared deviation of the
observations from the mean
Population standard deviation:
Sum of squared observations - N 2
N
Sample standard deviation:
Sum of squared observations - nX 2
s
n 1
Remark: The square of the standard deviation is called
the variance. The population variance is
commonly denoted by 2 whereas the sample
variance is denoted by s2.
Comparing Standard Deviations
Example: Team A - Heights of five marathon players in inches
Mean = 65
s =0
65 65 65 65 65
“ “ “ “ “
Comparing Standard Deviations
Example: Team B - Heights of five marathon players in inches
Mean = 65”
s
3.6” =
62 67 66 70 60
“ “ “ “ “
Comparing Standard Deviations
Data A
Mean = 15
s =
2.878
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19
Data B
Mean = 15
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 s=
1.414
19
Data C
Mean = 15
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
s=
4.036
19
Example:
Refer to the data on Math scores of 50 freshmen students.
The population variance is given by
(432 512 532 89 2 912 96 2 ) - 50 (69.96 2 )
50
250226 - 244720.08
10.494
50
For the sample of seven students, the standard deviation
is computed as
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
(70 82 77 96 55 85 64 ) - 7(75.57 )
s
49
41115 - 39975.77
s 10.6
49
Exercise No. 2
Using the following raw data. Solve the a) mean,
b) median, c) mode, d) range, e) mean
absolute deviation, f) range, g) sample
standard deviation & h) population variance.
1. Given Data: 9, 15, 7, 25, 11, 30, 11, 12
2. Given Data: 119, 162, 85, 101, 133,
119, 92, 85, 101
Output Performance No. 2
Using the following raw data. Solve the a) mean,
b) median, c) mode, d) range, e) mean
absolute deviation, f) range, g) sample
standard deviation & h) population variance.
1. Given Data: 28, 21, 34, 23, 44, 24,
11, 12
2. Given Data: 11, 16, 8, 11, 10, 20,
20, 8, 10, 11, 13
