Measure of Central

Tendency
Mean
Mode
Median

Mean of Ungrouped Data

Mean of ungrouped data is the sum of all data

divided by the number of data.

x

xi
i 1

or

Example 1: Find the mean of the set of numbers 4, 6, 1, 8, 6, 3,

7, 6

If the frequencies of the data are given, then

n

x
Example 2:

f i xi
i 1
n

fi

or

fx

x
f

i 1

Number of siblings, x

Number of students, f

10

11

Mean of grouped data

The mid-point, x, of each class is used to represent the

class.
Example 3:

Number of durians
collected daily

Number of days

fx

x
f

120
124

125
129

130
134

135
139

140
144

144
149

26

13

Mean of grouped data

A useful technique:

Start with an assumed mean, k.

Find the difference, y, between each mid-point and k,
i.e
y = x - k.
Find fy.
Then

fy

xk
f

If we wish to further reduce the magnitudes of the numbers involved,

we can use a scaling factor, h.
So,
y = (x k)/h
fy

And the mean is given by x k h

Median of ungrouped data

The median is the middle value of a set of n numbers

arranged in order of magnitude.

For raw data, arrange the data in order of magnitude.
th
If n is odd, then the median is
n

value

If n is even, then the median is arithmetic mean of the

n

2

th

value and

n
1
2

th

value

Median of ungrouped data

Example:
Find the median of each of these set of data:

(a) 1, 9, 6, 7, 12, 8, 3, 10, 11.

(b) 2, 5, 1, 6, 7, 11, 13, 8.
Arrange the data in order of magnitude:

(a) 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13

median = 8
(b) 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13
median = (6 + 7)/2 = 6.5

Median of ungrouped data

For ungrouped frequency distribution, determine the median from the

cumulative frequency distribution.

For example: Number of cars
0 1 2
Number of families

3 5 11 10 4

Cumulative frequency distribution:

Number of Cumulative
cars
frequency
0

19

20

33

35

As n = 35,
the median = [(35+1)/2]th value.
i.e. the 18th value.
Thus, the median = 2.

Median of grouped data

Once the data has been grouped, we have

lost the original information of the raw data.

So we can only estimate a value for the
median.
This can be done by one of the following
methods
(i) By interpolation
(ii) From a cumulative frequency curve
(iii) From a histogram

Median of grouped data

(i) By interpolation

B
C
m LB 2
fm

where LB is the lower boundary of the median class,

FB is cumulative frequency before median class,

fm is the frequency of the median class,
C is the width of the median class

Median of grouped data

(ii) Draw the cumulative frequency curve and read off

the observation for (f).

(iii) From the histogram,

determine the median class,

draw the horizontal line for (f) N,

where N is the cumulative frequency before the

median class,

draw the diagonal for the median class

estimate the median from the point of

intersection of these two lines

Mode of ungrouped data

The mode of a set of data is the observation

which occurs most often.

For raw data, arrange in the order of
magnitude so that the mode can be identified.
Example: Find the mode for 4, 5, 5, 1, 2, 6, 7,
2, 5.

Rearranging: 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7.

Mode = 5

Mode of grouped data

(i) Drawing a histogram
(ii) By calculation

d1
c
d1 d 2

m0 a

where d1 = difference between the frequency of

the modal class and the class before the modal class,

d2 = difference between the frequency of

the modal class and the class after the modal class,

a = lower boundary of the modal class,

c = width of the modal class.

Relative frequency distribution

To compare two or more sets of data, it is

sometimes useful to calculate the relative

frequency for every class in a set of data.
Relative frequency can be expressed either

as a fraction (total 1) or in percentage (total

100%).