Data Description

• Measures of Central Location

• Measures of Variation
• Measures of Position
Parameter and Statistic

• Any numerical value describing a

characteristic of a population is called a
parameter.

• Any numerical value describing a

characteristic of a sample is called a statistic.
Mean, Median and Mode for
Ungrouped Data
 Mean

• The mean, also known as arithmetic average,

is found by adding the values of the data and
dividing by the total number of values.
• For a sample, the symbol 𝑥ҧ represents the sample mean.
Thus,
𝑥1 + 𝑥2 + 𝑥3 + ⋯ + 𝑥𝑛 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖
𝑥ҧ = =
𝑛 𝑛
where 𝑛 represents the total number of values in the sample.

• For a population, the Greek letter 𝜇 (mu) is used for the

mean. Thus,
𝑥1 + 𝑥2 + 𝑥3 + ⋯ + 𝑥𝑛 σ𝑁 𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖
𝜇= =
𝑁 𝑁
where 𝑁 represents the total number of values in the
population.
Example 1. The numbers of hours spent by 8
randomly selected students in studying per week
were recorded as follows: 5, 7, 2, 6, 2, 8, 4 and 6.
Find the mean.

Solution:

5+7+2+6+2+8+4+6 40
𝑥ҧ = = = 5 hours.
8 8
Example 2. Seven students were randomly selected
from the class. There scores in a 50-items exam were
recorded as follows: 33, 27, 45, 26, 11, 48, and 20.
Compute the mean score.
 Median
The median of a set of observations arranged in an
increasing or decreasing order of magnitude is the middle
value when the number of observations is odd or the
arithmetic mean of the two middle values when the
number of observations is even.

The median value for a population is denoted as 𝜇.

෤
The median value for a sample is denoted as 𝑥.
෤
Example. On 5 term tests in mathematics, a student has
made grades of 82, 93, 86, 92 and 79.

Solution. Arranging the grades in increasing order of

magnitude
79 82 86 92 93

Hence,
𝜇=86.
෤
Examples.
12 15 16

12 21 17

13 21 20

14 23 21

14 23 24

Median = 13 24 25

25 Median= (20+21)/2 = 20.5

Median = 23
Mode is defined as a value of the term that appears
most frequently ( unimodal, bimodal or polymodal)
12 15 16

12 21 16

13 21 21

14 23 21

15 23 23

Mode = 12 24 23

25 24

Mode = 21,23 Mode = 16,21,23

The following data represent salaries (in pesos) of
teachers from a school district.
10,000 11,000 11,000 12,500
18,000 16,600 19,200 21,560
14,300 16,400 17,500 107,000

1. First, assume you work for the school board and do

not wish to increase salaries. Compute the mean,
median and mode, and decide which one would
best support your position to not raise salaries.
2. Second, assume you work for the teacher’s union
and want a raise for the teachers. Use the best
measure of central tendency to support your
position.
Mean, Median and Mode for
GROUPED DATA
Mean for Grouped Data

In this section, we will assume the frequency table, to

represent the grouped data, as basis in the computation of
the different measures.
𝑘
1
𝑥ҧ = ෍ 𝑓𝑖 𝑥𝑖
𝑛
𝑖=1

where 𝑓𝑖 = the class frequency of the ith class interval

𝑥𝑖 = the class mark of the ith class interval
𝑘 = the number of class intervals
𝑛 = the total frequency
 Figure 1. Ages of Randomly Selected Persons Who Died from Gunfire

Classes Class Class Marks Frequency F<

Boundaries (f)
72-79 71.5-79.5 75.5 3 50
64-71 63.5-71.5 67.5 6 47
56-63 55.5-63.5 59.5 1 41
48-55 47.5-55.5 51.5 0 40
40-47 39.5-47.5 43.5 5 40
32-39 31.5-39.5 35.5 6 35
24-31 23.5-31.5 27.5 15 29
16-23 15.5-23.5 19.5 14 14

Solution:
𝑘
1
𝑥ҧ = ෍ 𝑓𝑖 𝑥𝑖
𝑛
𝑖=1

14 19.5 + 15 27.5 + 6 35.5 + 5 43.5 + 1 59.5 + 6 67.5 + 3(75.5)

𝑥ҧ =
50

𝑥ҧ = 36.14
Median for Grouped Data

𝑛
− 𝐹(𝑚−1)
𝑥෤ = 𝐿𝑚 + 𝑐 2
𝑓𝑚

where
𝐿𝑚 = the lower class boundary of the median class,
𝐹(𝑚−1) = the cumulative frequency of the class
interval immediately preceding the median class,
𝑓𝑚 = the frequency of the median class, and
c = the class width or the class size.
 Compute first for n/2 and from the cumulative frequency
column, determine the interval containing the n/2th observation.
This is called the median class or median interval.

Figure 1. Ages of Randomly Selected Persons Who Died from Gunfire

Classes Class Class Marks Frequency F<

Boundaries (f)

72-79 71.5-79.5 75.5 3 50

64-71 63.5-71.5 67.5 6 47
56-63 55.5-63.5 59.5 1 41
48-55 47.5-55.5 51.5 0 40
40-47 39.5-47.5 43.5 5 40
32-39 31.5-39.5 35.5 6 35
Median 24-31 23.5-31.5 27.5 15 29
Class
16-23 15.5-23.5 19.5 14 14
Mode for Grouped Data

𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓1
𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑔 = 𝐿𝑚𝑜 + 𝑐
2𝑓𝑚𝑜 − 𝑓1 − 𝑓2

where
𝐿𝑚𝑜 = the lower class boundary of the modal class,
𝑓1 = the frequency of the class interval immediately
preceding the modal class,
𝑓2 = the frequency of the class interval immediately
following the modal class,
𝑓𝑚𝑜 = the frequency of the modal class, and
c = the class width or the class size.
 Modal class is the interval with the highest frequency.

Figure 1. Ages of Randomly Selected Persons Who Died from Gunfire

Classes Class Class Marks Frequency F<

Boundaries (f)

72-79 71.5-79.5 75.5 3 50

64-71 63.5-71.5 67.5 6 47
56-63 55.5-63.5 59.5 1 41
48-55 47.5-55.5 51.5 0 40
40-47 39.5-47.5 43.5 5 40
32-39 31.5-39.5 35.5 6 35
Modal 24-31 23.5-31.5 27.5 15 29
Class
16-23 15.5-23.5 19.5 14 14
A testing lab wishes to test two experimental brands of
outdoor paint to see how long each will last before
fading. The testing lab makes 6 gallons of each paint to
test. The result (in months) are shown. Find the mean of
each group.

Brand A Brand B
10 35
60 45
50 30
30 35
40 40
20 35
 Standard Deviation and Variance

Standard Deviation - commonly used measure of

variation . It indicates how closely the values of a
given data set are clustered around the mean. A
large value of the standard deviation means
values of that data set are spread over a larger
range around the mean. It is also the positive
square root of the variance.
Variance
It is the average of the square of the distance of each value from
from the mean.
σ(𝑥−𝜇)2
𝜎² = population variance
𝑁
σ(𝑥−𝑥)ҧ 2
𝑠² = sample variance
𝑛−1
where 𝑥 = data value
𝜇 =population mean
𝑁=number of scores in a population
𝑛 =number of scores in a sample

Standard Deviation
The square root of the variance.
σ(𝑥−𝜇)2
𝜎= 𝜎² = population standard deviation
𝑁
σ(𝑥−𝑥)ҧ 2
𝑠= 𝑠² = sample standard deviation
𝑛−1
The final exam scores of five students were 80, 88, 92, 90
and 85. Determine the variance and standard deviation.
𝒙 −𝒙ഥ ഥ)𝟐
(𝒙 − 𝒙
𝟖𝟖 𝟏 𝟏
𝟖𝟎 −𝟕 𝟒𝟗
𝟗𝟐 𝟓 𝟐𝟓
𝟗𝟎 𝟑 𝟗
𝟖𝟓 −𝟐 𝟒
ഥҧ = 𝟒𝟑𝟓/𝟓 = 𝟖𝟕
𝒙 𝟖𝟖

σ(𝑥 − 𝑥)ҧ 2 88
𝑠² = = = 22
5−1 4

𝑠 = 22 = 4.69
Variance and Standard Deviation
for Grouped Data
The variance for grouped data is

σ𝑘 2 σ𝑘
2
𝑛 𝑓 𝑥
𝑖=1 𝑖 𝑖 − ( 𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 𝑥𝑖 )²
𝑠𝑔 =
𝑛(𝑛 − 1)
where
𝑛 = the number of observations,
𝑓𝑖 = the frequency of the ith class interval,
𝑥𝑖 = the class mark of the ith class interval, and
𝑘 = the number of the class interval.

Just take the square root of the variance to get the

standard deviation.
 Figure 1. Ages of Randomly Selected Persons Who Died from Gunfire

Frequency Class Marks 𝒇𝒊 𝒙𝒊

Classes 𝒇𝒊 𝑥𝑖2
(𝒇𝒊 ) (𝒙𝒊 )
72-79 3 75.5 226.5 17,100.75
64-71 6 67.5 405 27,337.5
56-63 1 59.5 59.5 3,540.25
48-55 0 51.5 0 0
40-47 5 43.5 217.5 9,461.25
32-39 6 35.5 213 7,561.5
24-31 15 27.5 412.5 11,343.75
16-23 14 19.5 273 5,323.5
𝟖
𝟖
෍ 𝒇𝒊 𝒙𝟐𝒊
෍ 𝒇𝒊 𝒙𝒊 = 𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟕
𝒊=𝟏
𝒊=𝟏 = 𝟖𝟏, 𝟔𝟔𝟖. 𝟓
Coefficient of Variation (CV) – a statistic that
allows comparison of data sets that have different
units of measurement.
𝑠
𝐶𝑉 = ഥ
100 for sample
𝒙

𝜎
𝐶𝑉 = 100 for population
𝜇

The data with larger CV is more variable.

The average score of the students in one English class is
110 with a standard deviation of 5; the average score of
students in a History class is 106, with a standard
deviation of 4. Which class is more variable?
5
• CV (English) = (100) = 4.55%
110

4
• CV(History) = (100) = 3.77%
106

Since the CV for English Class is larger, their

scores are variable than the History Class.
 Coefficient of Variation
• In a particular University, a researcher wishes
to compare the variation in the scores of the
urban students with that of the scores of the
provincial students in their college entrance
test. It is known that the urban students’ mean
score is 384, with the standard deviation of
101, while among the provincial students, the
mean is 174 and a standard deviation of 53.
Which group shows more variation in Scores ?
 Coefficient of Variation
• The mean score of a statistics test of class A is 75
with a standard deviation of 13 while class B has
a mean score of 86 with a standard deviation of
16. Which has a larger variation from the mean?
• Department store A has a mean weekly sales of
340 bags with a standard deviation of 12.
Department store B has a mean weekly sales of
550 bags with a standard deviation of 15. Which
store has a greater variability in their weekly sales
in relative terms?