Measures of Central Tendency

CRISANTO C. LIMSON, Ph.D.

Measures of Central Tendency
A measure of central tendency is a single value that
attempts to describe a set of data by identifying the
central position within that set of data.
• Mean
• Median
• Mode
Mean
The "average" number; found by adding all
data points and dividing by the number of
data points.
Mean (Ungrouped Data)
The mean is equal to the sum of all the values in
the data set divided by the number of values in
the data set.

σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑋𝑖 σ𝑁
𝑖=1 𝑋𝑖
𝑥ҧ = 𝜇=
𝑛 𝑁
σ𝑋
𝑥ҧ =
𝑛
 σ𝑋
Example 1: 𝑥ҧ =
𝑛
What is the mean of the following
ages of customers in an Internet
Cafe: 14, 8, 11, 9, 16, 7, 15, 13, 17,
19, 10
Example 2: σ𝑋
What is the mean in each of the following 𝑥ҧ =
𝑛
sets of ages of customers in an Internet
Cafe :
A={22, 14, 8, 16, 11, 18, 9, 16}
B={10, 17, 15, 15, 13, 25, 17, 23, 19}
C={24, 10, 20, 13, 20, 13, 14, 12}
 σ𝑋
More Examples: 𝑥ҧ =
𝑛
1. Joan’s grades in Q3 are 85, 90, 83, 88 and
86. What is the Mean of her grades?
2. The height of 5 basketball players are:
6ft., 5ft., 6ft., 7ft., 5ft.
What is the Mean of their height?
3. The weight of 6 men are:
50kg, 48kg, 31kg, 56kg, 53kg, 62kg
What is the Mean of their weight?
Do this on Whiteboard.fi:
Find the Mean of the following
numbers:
a. 92, 84, 90, 78, 94, 88
b. 124, 118, 97, 140, 112
c. 27, 98, 34, 16
d. 56, 34, 22, 16, 34, 78, 90
e. 76, 93, 45, 67, 52, 13, 2
Mean (Grouped Data)
𝑛
σ𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 𝑋𝑖 𝑁
σ𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 𝑋𝑖
𝑥ҧ = 𝜇=
𝑛 𝑁

σ 𝑓𝑋
𝑥ҧ =
𝑛
 Example 1: σ 𝑓𝑋
What is the mean of the following ages 𝑥ҧ =
𝑛
of customers in an Internet Cafe :
Class Frequency Mid Product of
Interval f Point frequency and
C.I. X Midpoint
fX

10 – 14 2
15 – 19 3
20 – 24 7
25 – 29 9
30 – 34 4
35 – 39 2
40 – 44 2
45 – 49 1

n= fx =
 Example 2: σ 𝑓𝑋
𝑥ҧ =
What is the mean of the following ages 𝑛
of customers in an Internet Cafe :
Class Frequency Mid Product of
Interval f Point frequency and
C.I. X Midpoint
fX

31 – 33 2
28 – 30 3
25 – 27 7
22 – 24 9
19 – 21 4
16 – 18 2
13 – 15 2
10 – 12 1

n= fx =
 Do this on Whiteboard.fi: σ 𝑓𝑋
𝑥ҧ =
What is the mean of the following ages 𝑛
of customers in an Internet Cafe :
Class Frequency Mid Product of
Interval f Point frequency and
C.I. X Midpoint
fX

45 – 49 2
40 – 44 3
35 – 39 7
30 – 34 9
25 – 29 4
20 – 24 2
15 – 19 2
10 – 14 1

n= fx =
Median (Ungrouped Data)
Median: The middle value in a dataset that is arranged in
ascending order (from the smallest value to the largest
value). If a dataset contains an even number of values,
the median of the dataset is the mean of the two middle
values.
Example 1:
What is the median of the following ages of customers
in an Internet Cafe : 14, 8, 11, 9, 16, 7, 5, 13, 17, 19, 10
Example 2:
What is the median of the following ages of customers
in an Internet Cafe : 14, 8, 11, 9, 16, 7, 9, 5, 13, 17, 19,
10, 13, 15, 18, 12
Do this on Whiteboard.fi:
Find the Median in each of the
following numbers:
a. 92, 84, 90, 78, 94, 88
b. 124, 118, 97, 140, 112
c. 27, 98, 34, 16
d. 56, 34, 22, 16, 34, 78, 90
e. 76, 93, 45, 67, 52, 13, 2
Median (Grouped Data)
𝑛
−𝐹
2
𝑥෤ =L+ 𝑖
𝑓

Where: L = lower boundary of the median class

n = population/sample
F = cumulative frequency of the class lower than median class
f = frequency of the median class
i = class size
 Example 1: 𝑛
−𝐹
Solve for the median of the following 𝑥෤ =L+
2
𝑖
ages of customers in an Internet Cafe : 𝑓
Class Frequency Cumulative
Interval f Frequency
C.I. F

10 – 14 2
15 – 19 3
20 – 24 6
25 – 29 8
30 – 34 4
35 – 39 2
40 – 44 2
45 – 49 1
 Example 2: 𝑁
−𝐹
Solve for the median of the following 2
𝑥෤ =L+ 𝑖
ages of customers in an Internet Cafe : 𝑓
Class Frequency Cumulative
Interval f Frequency
C.I. F

31 – 33 2
28 – 30 3
25 – 27 5
22 – 24 8
19 – 21 5
16 – 18 2
13 – 15 2
10 – 12 1
 𝑁
Do this on Whiteboard.fi: 𝑥෤ =L+
2
−𝐹
𝑖
𝑓
Solve for the median of the following
ages of customers in an Internet Cafe :
Class Frequency Cumulative
Interval f Frequency
C.I. F

45 – 49 2
40 – 44 3
35 – 39 7
30 – 34 8
25 – 29 4
20 – 24 3
15 – 19 2
10 – 14 1
Mode

Mode: Defines the most frequently occurring value in a

dataset. In some cases, a dataset may contain multiple
modes while some datasets may not have any mode at
all.
Mode (Ungrouped Data)
1. What is the mode of the following scores of
students in a Math quiz? 14, 8, 11, 9, 16, 7, 5,
13, 17, 19, 10, 13

2. What is the mode of the following scores of

students in a Math quiz? 14, 8, 11, 9, 16, 7, 5,
13, 17, 19, 10, 15

3. What is the mode of the following scores of

students in a Math quiz? 14, 8, 11, 9, 16, 7, 5,
13, 17, 19, 10, 13, 11

4. What is the mode of the following scores of

students in a Math quiz? 9, 14, 8, 11, 9, 16, 9, 7,
5, 13, 17, 19, 10, 13, 11
 Example 1:
Solve for the mode of the following ages
of customers in an Internet Cafe : 𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓<𝑚𝑜
Class Frequency
𝑋෠ = L + 𝑖
𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓<𝑚𝑜 + (𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓>𝑚𝑜 )
Interval f
C.I. Where: L = lower boundary of the modal class
𝑓𝑚𝑜 = frequency of the modal class
10 – 14 2 𝑓<𝑚𝑜 = frequency of the class lower than modal class
𝑓>𝑚𝑜 = frequency of the class higher than modal class
15 – 19 3
i = class size
20 – 24 6
25 – 29 8
30 – 34 4
35 – 39 2
40 – 44 2
45 – 49 1
 Example 2: 𝑋෠ = L +
𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓<𝑚𝑜
𝑖
Solve for the mode of the following ages 𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓<𝑚𝑜 + (𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓>𝑚𝑜 )

of customers in an Internet Cafe :

Class Frequency
Interval f
C.I.

31 – 33 2
28 – 30 7
25 – 27 5
22 – 24 6
19 – 21 7
16 – 18 2
13 – 15 2
10 – 12 1
 Do this on Whiteboard.fi:
Solve for the mode of the following ages ෠ 𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓<𝑚𝑜
𝑋 =L+ 𝑖
of customers in an Internet Cafe : 𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓<𝑚𝑜 + (𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓>𝑚𝑜 )
Class Frequency
Interval f
C.I.

45 – 49 2
40 – 44 3
35 – 39 6
30 – 34 5
25 – 29 4
20 – 24 7
15 – 19 2
10 – 14 1