Cumulative Frequency

Objectives:
B Grade Construct and interpret a cumulative frequency
diagram

Use a cumulative frequency diagram to estimate

the median and interquartile range
 Cumulative Frequency

A cumulative frequency diagram is a graph that can be used to find

estimates of the median and upper and lower quartiles of grouped
data.

The median is the middle value when the data has been placed in
order of size

The lower quartile is the ‘median’ of the bottom half of the data set
and represents the value ¼ of the way through the data.

The upper quartile is the ‘median’ of the top half of the data set
and represents the value ¾ of the way through the data.
 Cumulative Frequency
A pet shop owner weighs his mice every week to check their health.
The weights of the 80 mice are shown below:

weight (g) Frequency Cumulative

(f) Frequency
0 < w ≤ 10 3   3
10 < w ≤ 20 5   8
20 < w ≤ 30 5   13
30 < w ≤ 40 9   22
40 < w ≤ 50 11   33
50 < w ≤ 60 15   48
60 < w ≤ 70 14   62
70 < w ≤ 80 8   70
80 < w ≤ 90 6   76
90 < w ≤100 4   80

Cumulative means adding up, so a cumulative frequency diagram

requires a running total of the frequency.
 Cumulative Frequency
80 x
Weight (g) Frequency Cumulative x
(f) Frequency 70 x
0 < w ≤ 10 3   3
x
10 < w ≤ 20 5   8 60

Cumulative frequency
20 < w ≤ 30 5   13
30 < w ≤ 40 9 22 50 x
 
40 < w ≤ 50 11   33
40
50 < w ≤ 60 15   48
x
60 < w ≤ 70 14   62 30
70 < w ≤ 80 8   70
76 x
80 < w ≤ 90 6   20
90 < w ≤100 4   80 x
10 x
x
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Weight (g)

The
Thepoint are nowfrequency
cumulative joined with straight
(c.f.) can nowlines
be plotted on a graph
The linecare
taking always starts
to plot the at
c.f.the
at the end of each class interval.
bottom
This is of the first
because we class
don’t interval
know
The resulting graph should lookwhere in the
like this andclass interval called an
is sometimes
0‘S’
< curve.
w ≤ 10, the values are, but we do know that by the end of
the class interval there are 3 pieces of data
 Cumulative Frequency

From this graph we can now find estimates of the median, and
upper and lower quartiles Upper quartile
There are 80 pieces of data 80
x
x

The middle
lower quartile is the 20th
is the 40th 70 x
piece of data ¼ of the total 60
x
pieces of data

Cumulative frequency
50 x
The upper quartile is the 60 th
Median position 40
piece of data ¾ of the total x
pieces of dataRead across, then 30

Down
Lowertoquartile
find the 20 x
median weight 10
x
x
x
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Weight (g)
Lower quartile is 38g
Median weight is 54g
Upper quartile is 68g
 Cumulative Frequency

The upper and lower quartiles can now be used to find what is called
The interquartile range and is found by:
Upper quartile – Lower quartile
In this example: Lower quartile is 38g Upper quartile is 68g

The interquartile range (IQR) = 68 – 38 = 30g

Because this has been found by the top ¾ subtract the bottom ¼

½ of the data (50%) is contained within these values

So we can also say from this that half the mice weigh between

38g and 68g

 Cumulative Frequency
In an international competition 60 children from Britain and France
Did the same Maths test. The results are in the table below:
Britain Britain France France
Marks Frequency c.f. Frequency c.f
1-5 1   2  
6 - 10 2   5  
11 - 15 4   11  
16 - 20 8   16  
21 - 25 16   10  
26 - 30 19   8  
31 - 35 10   8  

Using the same axes draw the cumulative frequency diagram for each
country.
Find the median mark and the upper and lower quartiles for both
countries and the interquartile range.

Make a short comment comparing the two countries

 Cumulative Frequency

Marks
Britain
Frequency
Britain
c.f.
France
Frequency
France
c.f
Both have 60 pieces of data
1 2
1-5 1  
3
2  
7
Median position is 30
6 - 10 2   5  
11 - 15 4   7 11   18 Lower quartile position is 15
16 - 20 8   15 16   34
21 - 25 16   31 10   44 Upper quartile position is 45
26 - 30 19   50 8   52
31 - 35 10   60 8   60

Britain 60 x
France xx
50
Cumulative frequency

x
Britain 40 France
x
LQ = 20 30 x LQ = 13.5
Median = 25 20 x
Median = 19
x
UQ = 29 10
UQ = 26
x x
IQR = 9 0 xx x IQR = 12.5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Marks
The scores in Britain are higher with less variation
 Cumulative Frequency

Summary
B Grade Construct and interpret a cumulative frequency
diagram

Use a cumulative frequency diagram to estimate

the median and interquartile range
• Make a running total of the frequency
• Put the end points not the class interval on the x axis
• Plot the points at the end of the class interval

• Find the median by drawing across from the middle of the

cumulative frequency axis
• Find the LQ and UQ from ¼ and ¾ up the c.f. axis