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Lesson 13 - Tabular Representation of Data

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to;

• generate frequency distribution tables from data.

• generate cumulative frequency distribution from data.

• compute relative frequency and percentage frequency.

13.1 Introduction
After collecting data it is necessary to present data in summarized forms. We use frequency
tables, relative frequency tables, histograms, frequency polygons and ogives to present the
numeric data as summaries. For non numeric data we use frequency tables, bar charts and pie
charts to present the data in summarized form. In this lesson you will learn frequency tables,
relative frequency tables and cumulative frequency tables.

13.2 Frequency Tables

The frequency of a particular data value is the number of times the data value occurs. Frequency
tables is a kind of tabular representation. It is used to summarized numeric as well as non
numeric data, using tally marks and the frequencies.

13.2.1 Steps to Construct a Frequency Table

The following steps are involved in the construction of a frequency table.

Step 1: Construct a table with three columns. Then in the first column, write down all of the
data values in ascending order of magnitude.

Step 2: To complete the second column, go through the list of data values and place one tally
mark at the appropriate place in the second column for every data value. When the fifth
tally is reached for a mark, draw a horizontal line through the first four tally marks. We
continue this process until all data values in the list are tallied.

Step 3: Count the number of tally marks for each data value and write it in the third column.

Example 13.1
Given below are the marks awarded for an assignment secured by students in statistics:

6, 7, 5, 7, 7, 8, 7, 6, 9, 7, 4, 10, 6, 8, 8, 9, 5, 6, , 4, 8

Present this information in a frequency table.

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Solution.
To construct a frequency table, we proceed as follows:
Step 1:
The first column shows what is being arranged in ascending order (i.e. the marks). The
lowest mark is 4. So, start from 4 in the first column as shown below.

Step 2:
Go through the list of marks. The first mark in the list is 6, so put a tally mark against
6 in the second column. The second mark in the list is 7, so put a tally mark against 7
in the second column. The third mark in the list is 5, so put a tally mark against 5 in
the third column as shown below.

Step 3:
Count the number of tally marks for each mark and write it in third column. The finished
frequency table is as follows:

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13.3 Frequency Tables with Class Intervals

When the set of data values are spread out, there will be too many rows in the table. So we
group the data into class intervals. The frequency of a group is the number of data values that
fall in the range specified by that group. Ideally, we should have between five and ten rows in a
frequency table. Some statistician determines number of classes k as the smallest integer such
that

2k ≥ n, where n is the sample size.

For a example let n = 108. Then 2k ≥ 108. Therefore, k = 7. We can define the class width as
follows:

Range
Class Width ≈
k

where Range = Largest Value - Smallest Value.

13.3.1 Class Limits, Boundaries and Intervals

Class Limits
Class limits are the smallest and largest observations in each class. Therefore, each class has
two limits: lower limit and upper limit.

Class Boundaries
Class boundaries are the midpoints between the upper class limit of a class and the lower class
limit of the next class in the sequence. Therefore, each class has an upper and lower class
boundary.

Class Interval
Class interval is the difference between the upper and lower class boundaries of any class.

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Example 13.2
Consider the following table.

(a) What are the lower and upper class limits for the second class?

(b) Determine the class boundaries of the second classes.

(c) Determine the class intervals for the first class.

Solution.

(a) The lower class limit is 300.

The upper class limit is 399.

(b) The lower class boundary is the midpoint between 299 and 300, that is 299.5.
The upper class boundary is the midpoint between 399 and 400, that is 399.5.

(c) The first class is 200-299.

The class interval = Upper class boundary − Lower class boundary

Upper class boundary = 299.5
Lower class boundary = 199.5
Therefore, the class interval = 299.5 − 199.5 = 100.

Example 13.3
The number of calls from motorists per day for roadside service was recorded for the
month of December 2003. The results were as follows:
28 122 217 130 120 86 80 90 120 140 70
40 145 187 113 90 68 174 194 170 100 75
104 97 75 123 100 82 109 120 81
Set up a frequency table for this set of data values.

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Solution.
First let us find the width of the classes.
Smallest value = 28
Largest value = 217
n = 31
2k ≥ n = 31
k=5
Range = 217 − 28 = 189
Range 189
Classwidth = = = 37.8 ≈ 38
k 5
Step 1:
Construct a table with three columns, and then write the data groups or class intervals
in the first column. The size of each group is 38. So, the groups will start at 0, 38, 76,
114, 152 and 190 to include all of the data.

Step 2:
Go through the list of data values. For the first data value in the list, 28, place a tally
mark against the group 0 − 37 in the second column. For the second data value in the
list, 122, place a tally mark against the group 114 − 151 in the second column. For the
third data value in the list, 217, place a tally mark against the group 190 − 227 in the
second column.

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Step 3:
Count the number of tally marks for each group and write it in the third column. The
finished frequency table is as follows:

13.4 Relative Frequency

The relative frequencies are used in comparison of two populations using two samples (sample
sizes may be different). As the sample sizes are different it is not sensible to compare the
frequencies falling into different categories. Thus we have to consider relative frequencies.

Frequency
Relative Frequency =
Total Number of Observations

Using the relative frequencies we can draw the relative frequencies histogram and relative
frequency polygon.

Example 13.4
For the statistic course unit 116 male students and 292 female students were partici-
pated. Their marks distribution is given in the following table. Draw relative frequency
histogram and frequency polygon separately for male and female students.

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Solution.

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13.5 Cumulative Frequency

Cumulative frequency distributions are useful in conveying information about frequency of ob-
servations that are below (or above) a specified level of the response variable. The cumulative
frequency means summing up the consecutive frequencies. When the interest of the investigator
focuses on the number of cases below the specified value, then the specified value represents
the upper limit of the class interval. It is known as “less than” cumulative frequency distribu-
tion. When the interest lies in finding the number of cases above a specified value, then this
value is taken as the lower limit of the specified class interval. Then it is known as, “more
than” cumulative frequency distribution.

Example 13.5
The following table summarizes the ages of employees of an office.

Construct the table with less than and more than cumulative frequencies.

Solution.

In the above “less than” cumulative frequency distribution, there are 5 persons less than
25, 8 persons less than 35, 15 persons less than 45 and so on.
Similarly, the following is the “greater than” cumulative frequency distribution.

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In the above “greater than” cumulative frequency distribution, 30 persons are older than
15, 25 persons are older than 25, 22 persons are over 35 and so on.

Self-Assessment Exercises
1. A Beverage Company wants feedback on its new product, Coral Cola, and sets up a taste
test with 20 people. Each individual is asked to rate the taste of the cola on a 5-point
scale:

(bad taste) 1 2 3 4 5 (excellent taste)

The 20 ratings are as follows:

1 3 3 2 3 3 4 3 2 4 2 3 5 3 4 5 3 4 3 1

Construct a frequency table for these data.

2. The following data show the number of customers came to a shop in 40 consecutive days.

26 39 42 19 29 10 5 58 25 37 53 18 14 58
26 14 36 21 22 22 8 24 19 5 25 24 44 39
21 33 53 41 10 9 43 40 23 15 8 27

(a) Construct the frequency table with class boundaries.

(b) Construct the relative frequency table.
(c) Construct the cumulative frequency table.

Suggested Reading
Chapter 2: Trevor Wegner, (2013) Applied Business Statistics: Methods & Excel Based Appli-
cations, 3rd Edition, Juta and Company Ltd.