UNIT-2

Measure of central tendency

INTRODUCTION
According to Simpson and Kafka a measure of central tendency is typical value around
which other figures aggregate‘.
According to Croxton and Cowden An average is a single value within the range of the data
that is used to represent all the values in the series. Since an average is somewhere within the range
of data, it is sometimes called a measure of central value‘.
MEASUIRES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
The following are the five measures of average or central tendency that are in common use :
(i) Arithmetic average or arithmetic mean or simple mean
(ii) Median
(iii) Mode
(iv) Geometric mean
(v) Harmonic mean
Arithmetic mean, Geometric mean and Harmonic means are usually called Mathematical averages
while Mode and Median are called Positional averages.

ARITHMETIC MEAN
To find the arithmetic mean, add the values of all terms and then divide sum by the number of
terms, the quotient is the arithmetic mean. There are three methodsto find the Arithmetic mean:

(i) Direct method: In individual series of observations x1, x2,… xn the arithmetic mean is
obtained by following formula

(ii) Short-cut method: This method is used to make the calculations simpler. Let A be
any assumed mean (or any assumed number), d the deviation of the arithmetic mean, then we have

, where d=x-A

(iii) Step deviation method: If in a frequency table the class intervals have equal width,
say i than it is convenient to use the following formula.

Where u=(x-A)/ i, and i is length of the interval, A is the assumed mean.

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Find the Arithmetic Mean
Example 1: Find the A.M. of the numbers 2, 5, 9, 11 and 13.

Ans.

Example 2: Find the average income and the total income from the following table

Calculation of mean from grouped data

Example : Calculate the mean weight from the following table

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Finding missing frequency problem
Example: A.M. of the following is 67.45. Find the value of 𝑓3 .

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MEDIAN
The median is defined as the measure of the central term, when the given terms (i.e., values of the
variate) are arranged in the ascending or descending order of magnitudes. In other words the median
is value of the variate for which total of the frequencies above this value is equal to the total of the
frequencies below this value.
Due to Corner, ―The median is the value of the variable which divides the group into two equal parts
one part comprising all values greater, and the other all values less then the median.

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For Example. The marks obtained, by seven students in a paper of Statistics are 15, 20, 23, 32, 34, 39,
48 the maximum marks being 50, then the median is 32 since it is the value of the 4th term, which is
situated such that the marks of 1st, 2nd and 3rd students are less than this value and those of 5th, 6th and
7th students are greater then this value.

COMPUTATION OF MEDIAN
(a) Median in individual series:
Let n be the number of values of a variate (i.e. total of all frequencies).
First of all we write the values of the variate (i.e., the terms) in ascending or descending order of
magnitudes
Here two cases arise:
Case 1. If n is odd then value of (n+1)/2th term gives the median

Case2. If n is even then there are two central terms i.e., n/2th and

Sol

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 (b) Median in continuous series (or grouped series):
In this case, the median (Md) is computed by the following formula
𝑛
−𝐶
𝑀𝑑 = 𝑙1 + 2 × (𝑙2 − 𝑙1 )
𝑓
Where Md = median
𝑙1 = lower limit of median class
C = total of all frequencies before median class
f = frequency of median class
𝑙2 − 𝑙1 = class width of median class.

Q. Calculate the median for the following data

Sol:

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 Ans.

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 Mode
In statistics, the mode is the value that is repeatedly occurring in a given set. We can also say thatthe
value or number in a data set, which has a high frequency or appears more frequently, is called mode or
modal value. It is one of the three measures of central tendency, apart from mean and median. For
example, the mode of the set {3, 7, 8, 8, 9}, is 8. Therefore, for a finite number of observations, we can
easily find the mode. A set of values may have one mode or more than one mode or no mode at all.
In this article, you will understand the meaning of mode in statistics, formula for mode for grouped
data and how to find the mode for the given data, i.e. for ungrouped and grouped data along with
solved examples in detail.

Mode Definition in Statistics: A mode is defined as the value that has a higher frequency in a given
set of values. It is the value that appears the most number of times.

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Example: In the given set of data: 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, the mode of the data set is 5 since it has appeared
in the set twice.
Statistics deals with the presentation, collection and analysis of data and information for a particular
purpose. We use tables, graphs, pie charts, bar graphs, pictorial representation, etc. After the proper
organization of the data, it must be further analyzed to infer helpful information.
For this purpose, frequently in statistics, we tend to represent a set of data by a representative value
that roughly defines the entire data collection. This representative value is known as the measure of
central tendency. By the name itself, it suggests that it is a value around which the data is centred.
These measures of central tendency allow us to create a statistical summary of the vast, organized
data. One such measure of central tendency is the mode of data.
Mode Formula in Statistics (Ungrouped Data)
The value occurring most frequently in a set of observations is its mode. In other words, the mode
of data is the observation having the highest frequency in a set of data. There is a possibility that
more than one observation has the same frequency, i.e. a data set could have more than one
mode. In such a case, the set of data is said to be multimodal.
Let us look into an example to get a better insight.
Example: The following table represents the number of wickets taken by a bowler in 10 matches.
Find the mode of the given set of data.

It can be seen that 2 wickets were taken by the bowler frequently in different matches. Hence, the
mode of the given data is 2.

Mode Formula for Grouped Data

In the case of grouped frequency distribution, calculation of mode just by looking into the
frequency is not possible. To determine the mode of data in such cases we calculate the modal class.
Mode lies inside the modal class. The mode of data is given by the formula:

Where,
l = lower limit of the modal class h = size of the class interval
f1 = frequency of the modal class
f0 = frequency of the class preceding the modal class f2 = frequency of the class succeeding the
modal classLet us take an example to understand this clearly.

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How to Find the Mode
Let us learn here how to find the mode of a given data with the help of examples.
Example 1: Find the mode of the given data set: 3, 3, 6, 9, 15, 15, 15, 27, 27, 37, 48.
Solution: In the following list of numbers, 3, 3, 6, 9, 15, 15, 15, 27, 27, 37, 48
15 is the mode since it is appearing more number of times in the set compared to other numbers.
Example 2: Find the mode of 4, 4, 4, 9, 15, 15, 15, 27, 37, 48 data set.
Solution: Given: 4, 4, 4, 9, 15, 15, 15, 27, 37, 48 is the data set.
As we know, a data set or set of values can have more than one mode if more than one value occurs
with equal frequency and number of time compared to the other values in the set. Hence, here both
the number 4 and 15 are modes of the set.
Example 3: Find the mode of 3, 6, 9, 16, 27, 37, 48.
Solution: If no value or number in a data set appears more than once, then the set has no mode.
Hence, for set 3, 6, 9, 16, 27, 37, 48, there is no mode available.

Example 4: In a class of 30 students marks obtained by students in mathematics out of 50 is

tabulated as below. Calculate the mode of data given.

Solution:

The maximum class frequency is 12 and the class interval corresponding to this frequency is 20 –
30. Thus, the modal class is 20 – 30.
Lower limit of the modal class (l) = 20
Size of the class interval (h) = 10
Frequency of the modal class (f1) = 12
Frequency of the class preceding the modal class (f0) = 5
Frequency of the class succeeding the modal class (f2)= 8
Substituting these values in the formula we get;

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On the basis of this grouping table, an analysis table is prepared. For each column of the grouping
table, we analyse which item/group of items correspond to the highest frequency.

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From the analysis table, it is clear that 60 repeats the maximum number of times. Thus, mode is
60.

Mean Median Mode Comparison

Mean Median Mode

Mean is the average value that is equal to

the ration of sum of values in a data set and Median is the central value Mode is the most
total number of values. of given set of values when repetitive value of
Mean = Sum of observations/Number of arranged in an order. agiven set of
observations values.

For example, if we have set of values = 2,2,3,4,5, then;

Mean = (2+2+3+4+5)/5 = 3.2 Median = 3 Mode = 2

Mean Median Mode Formula

There exists an empirical relationship between mode, median and mean and this can be expressedusing
the formula: Mode = 3 Median – 2 Mean
Or (Mean – Mode) = 3 (Mean – Median)

Example Question Using the Mean, Median and Mode Relationship

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 Question: In a moderately skewed distribution, the median is 20 and the mean is 22.5. Using these values, find
the approximate value of the mode.

Geometric Mean (G.M.)

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 Relations between A.M., G.M. and H.M.
A.M. ≥ G.M. ≥ H.M

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