Graphs and

Measures of
Central
Tendency
Graphs
After the data has been collected and
tabulated, the next step is to sketch
the graph to make the data more
presentable, easier to understand, and
more appealing and pleasing to the
reader. Several methods of graphing
are presented below.
Bar Graph
Bar graphs are usually presented to compare
data or to determine which class or interval is
common or appears frequently in the text.
Rectangular figures or bars are used to show
variations in the frequencies of observations.
Line Graph
To show trends and increases or decreases in
sales, scores, body temperatures of patients,
enrolment of students in certain courses, or
population per year, a line graph is more
appropriate to use than a bar graph.
Pie Chart
A pie chart is useful when presenting the
sizes of components that make up a certain
whole entity.
Frequency Histogram
One of the kinds of graphs which can be applied for
grouped data is the frequency histogram. The graph of
table below can be seen in the given figure. The
frequency will be represented by points in the vertical
axis and the class intervals in the horizontal axis. The
ordered pair of points in the vertical and horizontal axes
will be plotted by placing bars in the graph area. Each
bar will represent the class interval with its
corresponding frequency.
Frequency Polygon
Unlike in the frequency histogram where bars drawn side
by side are used, points connected by line segments are
utilized in the frequency polygon. It looks like a usual line
graph except for the labels in the horizontal axis which
are class intervals. The frequency polygon of the data
presented in table above is shown.
Cumulative Frequency Ogive
Another graph which is commonly used in statistical reports and
texts is the cumulative frequency ogive. Referring to table below,
add another column which will be labeled as <CF (read as “less
than cumulative frequency”). Each entry in the <CF column will
be obtained by accumulating the frequencies, starting from the
frequency of the interval containing the lowest score up to the
interval containing the highest score. If the >CF (read as
“greater than cumulative frequency”) will be computed,
accumulate the frequencies starting from the interval containing
the highest score down to the interval containing the lowest
score.
Relative Frequency
The relative frequency is also known as the percentage
frequency. To compute for the relative frequency, divide the
frequency of each class interval by the total number of
observations, N, then multiply the result by 100%. Given
the relative frequency of a certain class interval, one can
easily see how many percent of the total population
belongs to that interval. For instance, referring to the class
interval 24 – 32 in table below, it can be seen that majority,
or 55.56%, of the patients in Hospital X belongs to this age
bracket.
MEASURES OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY
Introduction
Finding the average grade of students, the average daily
sales of a department store, or the average salary per
month of employees in a company are common
procedures that we do occasionally. Without us knowing it,
we have been doing statistical tasks at different times.
Average is a term which can be associated with central
tendency or central location.
MEASURES OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY FOR UNGROUPED
DATA
There are three types of measures of central
tendency, namely, arithmetic mean, median,
and mode.
MEAN FOR UNGROUPED DATA
To find the arithmetic mean, add all the items or
observations then, divide the sum by the total number of
observations. In symbols,
σ𝒙
ഥ=
𝒙
𝑵
where x = 𝑖th observation
N = total number of observations
Example 1:
The grades of student A in five
subjects are 78, 88, 89, 90, and 95.
What is her mean grade?
Example 2:
The height in cm of 12 college freshmen are as
follows:
152, 144, 156, 166, 172, 150, 153, 160, 154,
168, 165, and 170.
Find the mean height of the students.
Example 3:
Distribution of the Students’ Scores in a Statistics
Examination. Find the mean score of the students.
Example 4:
Lorie Company has 6 employees whose monthly salaries
are the following: two clerks with a salary of P13500 each,
one executive secretary with a salary of P18000, one
janitor with a salary of P8000, one accountant with a salary
of P28000, and one manager with a salary of P50000.
What is the mean monthly salary of the employees?
MEDIAN FOR UNGROUPED DATA
The median is the midpoint of an array of numbers
or observations. Let us denote the median by the
symbol 𝑴𝒅.
If a set of data contains an odd number of
observations, the median is the only middle
observation that divides the set into two equal parts.
Example 5:
Find the median score of sophomore
students in a Chemistry quiz.
12, 34, 23, 14, 16, 33, 41, 35, 10, 45, 25,
24, 50
Example 6:
The ages of the patients at the pediatric
ward of Hospital X are 10, 2, 5, 6, 5, 8, 9,
and 9. Find the median of the patients’
ages.
MODE FOR UNGROUPED DATA
The mode is the observation that appears the most
number of times in a distribution.
Let us denote the mode by the symbol 𝑴𝒐.
Example 7:
A store owner wants to know from his employee what shoe
size is mostly bought by women for the month of June.
Using the sales report for June, the employee told the
owner that the most common shoe size is 6.5, meaning,
this size appears the most number of times in the list. What
the employee was actually telling the owner is that the
mode of the sizes of purchased shoes is 6.5.
Example 8:
What is the mode of the students’ scores in a
Statistics test?
The scores are as follows:
12, 13, 12, 11, 10, 20, 24, 25, 10, 22, 20, 13,
16, 18, 20, 20, 20, 20.
Example 9:
What is the mode of the following heights of
freshmen college students?
152 cm, 166 cm, 176 cm, 150 cm, 168 cm,
155 cm, 149 cm
Example 10:
What is the mode in the following set of
data?
4 6 5 5 5 6 4 5 6 5
3 4 3 3 3 3 2 1 8 7
Note
In any given set of data, there can be one
mode, two or more modes, or none at
all.
QUIZ #4
Find the mean, median, and/or mode of the following.

1.) In a class there are 20 students and they have secured a score
of 88, 82, 88, 85, 84, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 84, 74, 75, 76, 89, 90, 89,
80, 82, and 83. Find the mean, median, and mode.
2.) Find the mean for the following distribution.
x f fx
11 9
14 6
17 8
20 7
 Since the lowest score is 6, this becomes the lower limit of the first
class interval. The higher limit of this interval is 14, which is obtained by
adding 𝑖 − 1 to 6.
𝑖−1=9−1=8
6 + 8 = 𝟏𝟒
The lower limit of the second interval is obtained by adding 9 to 6 and
the higher limit by adding 8 to the result (6 + 9 = 15; 15 + 8 = 23). The
lower and upper limits of the third interval and the next intervals are
obtained using the same procedure. Tally marks are used to aid in
counting the elements for each interval, then the corresponding
frequencies are obtained by counting these tally marks. The total
frequency must tally with N, the total number of observations. The
number of intervals is 7 instead of the computed value, which is 6,
because the highest score is not included in the 6th interval.
Consequently, it is necessary to add more interval.
Age of Patients in Hospital X, June 2004

Age
Tally Marks Frequency
(in years)
60 – 68
51 – 59
42 – 50
33 – 41
24 – 32
15 – 23
6 – 14
 Class Mark
It is the midpoint of a class interval. To obtain this
point, add the lower limit and the upper limit, then
divide the sum by two.

Class Boundaries
These are also known as the exact limits, and can
be obtained by subtracting 0.5 from the lower limit
of an interval and adding 0.5 to the upper limit of
the interval.
 Correlated Data

A correlated set of data is a table where two

or more frequencies are shown for easy
comparison. In table 6, for example, if one
wants to compare the number of cases
according to age, then the total frequency
will be the sum of the frequencies of the
male and female patients per age group. A
new table may be formed as follows:
Table 6. Age of Patients in Hospital X, June 2004

Age (in years) Male Female Total Frequency

60 – 68 0 1 1
51 – 59 1 1 2
42 – 50 1 2 3
33 – 41 2 0 2
24 – 32 13 7 20
15 – 23 1 4 5
6 – 14 1 2 3
Total 19 17 36
Table 7. Cases of Dengue in Region A, Grouped according to Sex
and Religion, 2000

Sex Religion A Religion B Total % Religion B

Male 308 132 440 30.0

Female 361 240 601 40.0
Total 669 372 1,041 35.7

In table 7 above, the data are grouped according to religion and

sex. One can say that 30% of the males and 40% of the females in
the distribution belong to the Religion B group.