Statistics Part 3
Statistics Part 3
PART 3
By
O.A Esan
Walter Sisulu University
Measure of Central Tendency
The mean of a set of numbers or values x1, x2, x3,….xn is the average of the
numbers.
The mean is denoted by
Example
First method:
If the value x1, x2, x3,…, xn occur with frequencies f1, f2, f3,…, fn
respectively, then the mean is given by
Where f is the frequency, x is the class marks or midpoint and ∑ means the
sum of x.
This method is usually used for an ungrouped data. X represents the values
(i.e., the marks or class).
However for a grouped data, x represents the class midpoint or mid values of
each class.
Example
Time 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
No of 2 3 5 10 15 30 25 15 10 5
Trainee
Solution
If we assume or guess that the mean is say A, and the difference between the
assumed mean, A and the class mid-point or mid-value of each xi is di(called
the deviation), then the mean is given by:
The following table shows the distribution of weekly wages earned by some
construction workers in South Africa.
Wages 40 – 49 50 – 59 60 – 69 70 – 79 80 – 89 90 – 99 100 – 109 110 - 119
No. of 4 12 18 11 7 5 2 1
workers
Using an assumed mean of 74.50, calculate correct to the nearest Rands the
mean.
solution
Solution
The largest frequency is 11. 11 families each had 2 children.
Therefore, the mode of the data is 2
The mode of a grouped data
For a grouped data, the modal class is the class with the largest frequency.
Computing the mode of a grouped data
The formula used is:
Where = excess of modal frequency over frequency of the next-
lower class.
= excess of modal frequency over frequency of the next-higher class.
= lower class boundary of the modal class.
C= size of the modal class interval.
Example
The frequency table below gives the age distribution of students who offered
mathematics in a certain school.
Ages 17 18 19 20 21
No. of 3 10 8 5 2
students