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Descriptive statistics
A parameter is a piece of information about the
entire population. A statistic is our best guess
for the parameter using only a sample.

Descriptive Measures
Central Tendency measures. They are
computed to give a center around which the
measurements in the data are distributed.

Variation or Variability measures. They

describe data spread or how far away the
measurements are from the center.

Relative Standing measures. They describe

the relative position of specific measurements in the
data.

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Measures of Central Tendency

Mean:
Sum of all measurements divided by the number
of measurements.
Median:
A number such that at most half of the
measurements are below it and at most half of the
measurements are above it.
Mode:
The most frequent measurement in the data.

Mean

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Example of Mean
Measurements
x

Deviation
x - mean

-1

-3

-2

-4

40

MEAN = 40/10 = 4
Notice that the sum of the
deviations is 0.
Notice that every single
observation intervenes in
the computation of the
mean.

Median

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Example of Median
Measurements Measurements
Ranked
x
x
3
0
5
1
5
2
1
3
7
4
2
5
6
5
7
6
0
7
4
7
40
40

Median: (4+5)/2 =
4.5
Notice that only the
two central values are
used in the
computation.
The median is not
sensible to extreme
values

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Example of Mode
Measurements
x
3
5
5
1
7
2
6
7
0
4

In this case the data have

two modes:
5 and 7
Both measurements are
repeated twice

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Variance

xi x

n 1

Example of Variance
Variance = 54/9 = 6
Measurements Deviations
x
3
5
5
1
7
2
6
7
0
4
40

x - mean
-1
1
1
-3
3
-2
2
3
-4
0
0

Square of
deviations
1
1
1
9
9
4
4
9
16
0
54

It is a measure of
spread.
Notice that the larger the
deviations (positive or
negative) the larger the
variance

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x x

s s2

n 1

Measures of Location and Spread

Discrete Outcomes
Population

Sample

Measures of Location
Mean

x
n

Median

Middle observation once all observations are ranked;

average of two middle if the number of observations is even

Mode

Most often occurring value

Measures of Spread

Variance

x x

s2

Standard Deviation
Range

Max Min

n 1

x x

s s2

n 1

Max - Min

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Example-Calculation
Data Set 1
1
3
5
7
9

Data Set 2
1
2
5
8
9

Data Set 3 Data Set 4

3
1
5
1
7
8
9
12
11
13

Mean
Median
Mode
Variance
St. Dev.
Range

Example-Calculation

Mean
Median
Mode
Variance
St. Dev.
Range

Data Set 1
1
3
5
7
9

Data Set 2
1
2
5
8
9

5
5
#N/A
10
3.162
8

5
5
#N/A
12.5
3.536
8

Data Set 3 Data Set 4

3
1
5
1
7
8
9
12
11
13

7
7
#N/A
10
3.162
8

7
8
1
33.5
5.788
12

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Some statistical rules

applied to Variance
What happens to mean, variance and
standard deviation if we add subtract multiply
or divide each number by a constant?

The new data has the same

spreadoutness but a new mean
So if you add a constant C to each
Xi, then

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Example temperature conversions to get

from Fahrenheit to Celsius use

So we will convert each of the

temperatures from farenheit to Celsius
remember

10

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Which value is father from the mean, 27F

or -1c? Since these values are in different
units, we need a standardized way to
compare them.

11

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12

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What happens to mean, variance and

standard deviation if we add subtract
multiply or divide each number by a
constant?

13