10/11/2015

HowtoComputeMean,Median,Mode,Range,andStandardDeviation

HowtoComputeMean,Median,Mode,
Range,andStandardDeviation
Instatisticsanddataanalysis,themean,
median,mode,range,andstandard
deviationtellresearchershowthedatais
distributed.Eachofthefivemeasurescan
becalculatedwithsimplearithmetic.The
meanandmedianidicatethe"center"of
thedatapoints.Themodeisthevalueor
valuesthatoccurmostfrequently.Range
isthespanbetweenthesmallestvalue
andlargersvalue.Standarddeviation
measureshowfarthedata"deviates"
fromthecenter,onaverage.Knowing
howtocalculatethesestatistical
measureswillhelpyouanalyzedatafrom
surveysandexperiments.

Mean
Thearitmeticmeanoraverageofasetofnumbersistheexpectedvalue.The
meaniscalculatedbyaddingupallthevalues,andthendividingthatsumby
thenumberofvalues.
Forexample,supposeateacherhassevenstudentsandrecordsthefollowing
seventestscoresforherclass:98,96,96,84,80,80,and72.Theaveragetest
scoreis
(98+96+96+84+81+81+73)/7=609/7=87.
Ifonemorestudententeredherclassandtookthetest,theexpectedscore
wouldbean87.

Median
Themedianisthemiddlevalueinasetofvalues.Tofindthemedian,orderthe
numbersfromlargesttosmallest,andthenchoosethevalueinthemiddle.For
example,considerthefollowingsetofninenumbers:
10,13,4,25,8,12,9,19,18
Ifwearrangethemindescendingorder,weget
25,19,18,13,12,10,9,8,4
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10/11/2015

HowtoComputeMean,Median,Mode,Range,andStandardDeviation

Themiddlevalueis12,sothemedian=12.Whatifwehaveasetwithaneven
numberofvalues?Forexample,considertheset
1,2,3,4,5,6.
Both3and4areinthemiddle.Inthiscase,wemusttaketheaverageofthe
twomiddlenumbers.Since(3+4)/2=3.5,themedian=3.5.

Mode
Themodeofasetisthevalueorvaluesthatoccurmostfrequently.Therecan
bemorethanonemodeinaset.Ifthereismorethanonemode,yousimplylist
allofthemodesyoudonothavetoaveragethem.Foreaxample,considerthe
set
10,10,4,8,10,8,3,9,14
Thenumber10occursthreetimes,andnoothernumbersoccurasfrequently.
Therefore,themode=10
Nowconsiderthisset
10,10,4,8,10,8,3,8,14
Both10and8occurthreetimeseach,andnoothernumbersoccurasoften.
Threrfore,themodesare8and10.

Range
Therangeofasetofnumbersisthemaximumdistancebetweenanytwo
values.Inotherwords,it'sthedifferencebetweenthelargestandsmalles
values.Knowingtherangegivesyouanideaofhowclosetogetherthedata
pointsare.Forexample,considerthesetoftestscores
78,88,67,90,92,83,97
Thehighesttestscoreis97andthelowestis67,thereforetherangeis9767=
30.

StandardDeviation
Thestandarddeviationisanotherwaytomeasurehowclosetogetherthe
elementsareinasetofdata.Thes.d.istheaveragedistancebetweeneach
datapointandthemean.Knowingthestandarddeviationgivesamorecomplete
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HowtoComputeMean,Median,Mode,Range,andStandardDeviation

pictureofthedistributionofelementsinadataset.SupposeyouhaveNdata
pointsandyoulabelthemX1,X2,X3,...XN,andyoucallthemean .Thereare
twoformulasforstandarddeviationdependingonwhetheryourdataisa
completeset,orasampletakefromalargerset.
Forexample,supposeyourdataisalloftheACTscoresofthestudentsina
smallclass.Thenthestandarddeviationformulais

Supposethescoresare15,21,21,21,25,30,and35.Themeanofthissetis
24.Thes.d.is
sqrt[((1524)2+(2124)2+(2124)2+(2124)2+(2524)2+(3024)2+(3524)2)/7]
=sqrt[266/7]
=sqrt[38]
=6.16
IfyoutakearandomsampleofACTscoresfromalargeschool,thestandard
deviationformulais

Forexample,supposeyouselecttenstudentsatrandomfromahighschool,and
theirACTscoresare17,20,24,25,26,26,29,29,30and32.Theaverageof
thissetis25.8.Thestandarddeviationis
sqrt[((1725.8)2+(2025.8)2+(2425.8)2+(2525.82+(2625.8)2
+(2625.8)2+(2925.9)2+(2925.8)2+(3025.8)2+(3225.8)2)/(101)]
=sqrt[(191.6)/(101)]
=sqrt[191.6/9]
=sqrt[21.2889]
=4.61

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