2.

MEASURES OF CENTERAL TENDENCY

Introduction
 When we want to make comparison between groups of numbers it is good to have a
single value that is considered to be a good representative of each group. This single value
is called the average of the group. Averages are also called measures of central tendency.
 An average which is representative is called typical average and an average which is
not representative and has only a theoretical value is called a descriptive average. A typical
average should posses the following:
 It should be rigidly defined.
 It should be based on all observation under investigation.
 It should be as little as affected by extreme observations.
 It should be capable of further algebraic treatment.
 It should be as little as affected by fluctuations of sampling.
 It should be ease to calculate and simple to understand.
Objectives:
 To comprehend the data easily.
 To facilitate comparison.
 To make further statistical analysis.
The Summation Notation:
 Let X1, X2 ,X3 …XN be a number of measurements where N is the total number of
observation and Xi is ith observation.
 Very often in statistics an algebraic expression of the form X 1+X2+X3+...+XN is
used in a formula to compute a statistic. It is tedious to write an expression like this
very often, so mathematicians have developed a shorthand notation to represent a
sum of scores, called the summation notation.

 The symbol is a mathematical shorthand for X1+X2+X3+...+XN

The expression is read, "the sum of X sub i from i equals 1 to N." It means "add up all the
numbers."

Example: Suppose the following were scores made on the first homework assignment for
five students in the class: 5, 7, 7, 6, and 8. In this example set of five numbers, where
N=5, the summation could be written:

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The "i=1" in the bottom of the summation notation tells where to begin the sequence of
summation. If the expression were written with "i=3", the summation would start with the
third number in the set. For example:

In the example set of numbers, this would give the following result:

The "N" in the upper part of the summation notation tells where to end the sequence of
summation. If there were only three scores then the summation and example would be:

Sometimes if the summation notation is used in an expression and the expression must be
written a number of times, as in a proof, then a shorthand notation for the shorthand
notation is employed. When the summation sign "∑" is used without additional notation,
then "i=1" and "N" are assumed.

For example:

PROPERTIES OF SUMMATION
1. where k is any constant

2. where k is any constant

3. where a and b are any constant

4.

The sum of the product of the two variables could be written:

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 Example: considering the following data determine

X Y

5 6

7 7

7 8

6 7

8 8

a) e)

b) f)

c) g)

d) h)

Solutions:
a)

b)

c)

d)

e)

f)

g)

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 h)

Types of measures of central tendency

There are several different measures of central tendency; each has its advantage and
disadvantage.
 The Mean (Arithmetic, Geometric and Harmonic)
 The Mode
 The Median
 Quantiles (Quartiles, Deciles and Percentiles)
The choice of these averages depends up on which best fit the property under discussion.

The Arithmetic Mean

 Is defined as the sum of the magnitude of the items divided by the number of
items.
 The mean of X1, X2 ,X3 …Xn is denoted by A.M ,m or and is given by:

 If X1 occurs f1 times, if X2occurs f2 times, … , if Xn occurs fn times

Then the mean will be , where k is the number of classes and

Example: Obtain the mean of the following number

2, 7, 8, 2, 7, 3, 7
Solution:
Xi fi Xifi
2 2 4
3 1 3
7 3 21
8 1 8
Total 7 36

Arithmetic Mean for Grouped Data

If data are given in the shape of a continuous frequency distribution, then the mean is
obtained as follows:

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 Xi =the class mark of the i th class and fi = the frequency of the i th

class
Example: calculate the mean for the following age distribution.
Class Frequency
6- 10 35
11- 15 23
16- 20 15
21- 25 12
26- 30 9
31- 35 6

Solutions:
 First find the class marks
 Find the product of frequency and class marks
 Find mean using the formula.

Class fi Xi Xifi
6- 10 35 8 280
11- 15 23 13 299
16- 20 15 18 270
21- 25 12 23 276
26- 30 9 28 252
31- 35 6 33 198
Total 100 1575

Exercises:

1. Marks of 75 students are summarized in the following frequency distribution:

Marks No. of students

If 20% of 40-44 7 the students have marks between 55
and 59 45-49 10
50-54 22
i. 55-59 f4
Find the missing frequencies f4 and f5.
ii. 60-64 f5 Find the mean.
65-69 6
70-74 3
Special properties of Arithmetic mean

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1. The sum of the deviations of a set of items from their mean is always zero. i.e.

2. The sum of the squared deviations of a set of items from their mean is the
minimum. i.e.

3. If is the mean of observations, if is the mean of observations, … , if

is the mean of observation, then the mean of all the observation in all groups
often called the combined mean is given by:

Example: In a class there are 30 females and 70 males. If females averaged 60 in an

examination and boys averaged 72, find the mean for the entire class.
Solutions:

4. If a wrong figure has been used when calculating the mean the correct mean can be
obtained with out repeating the whole process using:

Where n is total number of observations.

Example: An average weight of 10 students was calculated to be 65.Latter it was

discovered that one weight was misread as 40 instead of 80 kg. Calculate the correct
average weight.

Solutions:

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 5. The effect of transforming original series on the mean.
a) If a constant k is added/ subtracted to/from every observation then the new
mean will be the old mean± k respectively.
b) If every observations are multiplied by a constant k then the new mean will
be k*old mean

Example:
1. The mean of n Tetracycline Capsules X 1, X2, …, Xn are known to be 12 gm.
New set of capsules of another drug are obtained by the linear transformation
Yi = 2Xi – 0.5 ( i = 1, 2, …, n ) then what will be the mean of the new set of
capsules
Solutions:

2. The mean of a set of numbers is 500.

a) If 10 is added to each of the numbers in the set, then what will be the mean of
the new set?
b) If each of the numbers in the set are multiplied by -5, then what will be the
mean of the new set?
Solutions:

Weighted Mean
 When a proper importance is desired to be given to different data a weighted mean
is appropriate.
 Weights are assigned to each item in proportion to its relative importance.
 Let X1, X2, …Xn be the value of items of a series and W 1, W2, …Wn their
corresponding weights , then the weighted mean denoted is defined as:

Example:
A student obtained the following percentage in an examination:
English 60, Biology 75, Mathematics 63, Physics 59, and chemistry 55.Find the
students weighted arithmetic mean if weights 1, 2, 1, 3, 3 respectively are allotted
to the subjects.
Solutions:

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 Merits and Demerits of Arithmetic Mean

Merits:
 It is based on all observation.
 It is suitable for further mathematical treatment.
 It is stable average, i.e. it is not affected by fluctuations of sampling to some extent.
 It is easy to calculate and simple to understand.

Demerits:
 It is affected by extreme observations.
 It can not be used in the case of open end classes.
 It can not be determined by the method of inspection.
 It can not be used when dealing with qualitative characteristics, such as intelligence,
honesty, beauty.

The Geometric Mean

 The geometric mean of a set of n observation is the nth root of their product.
 The geometric mean of X1, X2 ,X3 …Xn is denoted by G.M and given by:

 Taking the logarithms of both sides

The logarithm of the G.M of a set of observation is the arithmetic mean of

their logarithm.

Example:

Find the G.M of the numbers 2, 4, 8.

Solutions:

Remark: The Geometric Mean is useful and appropriate for finding averages of ratios.

The Harmonic Mean

The harmonic mean of X1, X2 , X3 …Xn is denoted by H.M and given by:

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 , This is called simple harmonic mean.

In a case of frequency distribution:

If observations X1, X2, …Xn have weights W1, W2, …Wn respectively, then their
harmonic mean is given by

, This is called Weighted Harmonic Mean.

Remark: The Harmonic Mean is useful and appropriate in finding average speeds and
average rates.

Example: A cyclist pedals from his house to his college at speed of 10 km/hr and back
from the college to his house at 15 km/hr. Find the average speed.

Solution: Here the distance is constant

The simple H.M is appropriate for this problem.
X1= 10km/hr X2=15km/hr

The Mode

- Mode is a value which occurs most frequently in a set of values

- The mode may not exist and even if it does exist, it may not be unique.
- In case of discrete distribution the value having the maximum frequency is the modal
value.

Examples:
1. Find the mode of 5, 3, 5, 8, 9
Mode =5
2. Find the mode of 8, 9, 9, 7, 8, 2, and 5.
It is a bimodal Data: 8 and 9
3. Find the mode of 4, 12, 3, 6, and 7.
No mode for this data.
- The mode of a set of numbers X1, X2, …Xn is usually denoted by .

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 Mode for Grouped data

If data are given in the shape of continuous frequency distribution, the mode is defined
as:

Where:

Note: The modal class is a class with the highest frequency.

Example: Following is the distribution of the size of certain farms selected at random
from a district. Calculate the mode of the distribution.

Size of farms No. of farms

5-15 8
15-25 12
25-35 17
35-45 29
45-55 31
55-65 5
65-75 3

Solutions:

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 Merits and Demerits of Mode

Merits:
 It is not affected by extreme observations.
 Easy to calculate and simple to understand.
 It can be calculated for distribution with open end class
Demerits:
 It is not rigidly defined.
 It is not based on all observations
 It is not suitable for further mathematical treatment.
 It is not stable average, i.e. it is affected by fluctuations of sampling to
some extent.
 Often its value is not unique.

Note: being the point of maximum density, mode is especially useful in finding the most
popular size in studies relating to marketing, trade, business, and industry. It is the
appropriate average to be used to find the ideal size.

The Median
- In a distribution, median is the value of the variable which divides it in to two equal halves.
- In an ordered series of data median is an observation lying exactly in the middle of the series.
It is the middle most value in the sense that the number of values less than the median is equal
to the number of values greater than it.
-If X1, X2, …Xn be the observations, then the numbers arranged in ascending order will be
X[1], X[2], …X[n], where X[i] is ith smallest value.
X[1]< X[2]< …<X[n]
-Median is denoted by .
Median for ungrouped data

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 Example: Find the median of the following numbers.
a) 6, 5, 2, 8, 9, 4.
b) 2, 1, 8, 3, 5, 8.

Solutions:
a) First order the data: 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9
Here n=6

b) Order the data :1, 2, 3, 5, 8

Here n=5

Median for grouped data

If data are given in the shape of continuous frequency distribution, the median is defined

as:

Remark:
The median class is the class with the smallest cumulative frequency (less than type) greater
than or equal to .
Example: Find the median of the following distribution.

Class Frequency
40-44 7
45-49 10
50-54 22

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 55-59 15
60-64 12
65-69 6
70-74 3

Solutions:
 First find the less than cumulative frequency.
 Identify the median class.
 Find median using formula.

Class Frequency Cumu.Freq(less

than type)
40-44 7 7
45-49 10 17
50-54 22 39
55-59 15 54
60-64 12 66
65-69 6 72
70-74 3 75

Merits and Demerits of Median

Merits:
 Median is a positional average and hence not influenced by extreme observations.
 Can be calculated in the case of open end intervals.
 Median can be located even if the data are incomplete.

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Demerits:
 It is not a good representative of data if the number of items is small.
 It is not amenable to further algebraic treatment.
 It is susceptible to sampling fluctuations.

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