1

What is Central Tendency?

Central tendency is the
tendency of some central
value around which data tends
to cluster

Example: average work, average

income, average age of employees
etc.

2
 Objectives of Central Tendency

To get one single value

that describes the
characteristic of the entire
data

To facilitate comparison.

3
 Types of average
Average or measures of central tendency
are of following types.
1. Mathematical average
a. Arithmetical mean
i. Simple mean
ii. Weighted mean
b. Geometric mean
c. Harmonic mean
2. Positional Averages
a. Median
b. Mode 4
 3- 5

The Arithmetic Mean It is calculated by

is the most widely used summing the values
measure of location and and dividing by the
shows the central value of the number of values.
data.
Average
The major characteristics of the mean are: Joe

It requires the interval scale.

All values are used.

It is unique.

The sum of the deviations from the mean is 0.

Characteristics of the Mean

 3- 6
For ungrouped data, the


Population Mean is the
X
sum of all the population
values divided by the total 
number of population N
values:

where
µ is the population mean

N is the total number of observations.

X is a particular value.

 indicates the operation of adding.

Population Mean
 3- 7
A Parameter is a measurable characteristic of a
population.

The Kiers 56,000

family owns 42,000
four cars. The
23,000
following is the
current mileage 73,000
on each of the
four cars.
Find the mean mileage for the cars.

  X

56,000  ...  73,000
 48,500
N 4
Example 1
 3- 8

For ungrouped data, the sample mean is

the sum of all the sample values divided
by the number of sample values:

X
X 
n

where n is the total number of

values in the sample.

Sample Mean
 3- 9

A statistic is a measurable characteristic of a sample.

A sample of
five 14.0,
executives
15.0,
received the
following 17.0,
bonus last 16.0,
year ($000): 15.0

X 14.0  ...  15.0 77

X     15.4
n 5 5

Example 2
 3- 10

Properties of the Arithmetic Mean/mean/average

Every set of interval-level and ratio-level data has a
mean.
All the values are included in computing the mean.
A set of data has a unique mean.
The mean is affected by unusually large or small
data values.
The arithmetic mean is the only measure of location
where the sum of the deviations of each value from
the mean is zero.

Properties of the Arithmetic Mean

 3- 11

Consider the set of values: 3, 8, and 4.

The mean is 5. Illustrating the fifth
property

( X  X )  (3  5)  (8  5)  (4  5)  0

Example 3
 3- 12

The Weighted Mean of a set of

numbers X1, X2, ..., Xn, with
corresponding weights w1, w2,
...,wn, is computed from the
following formula:

( w1 X 1  w2 X 2  ...  wn X n )
Xw 
( w1  w2  ...wn )

Weighted Mean
 3- 13

During a one hour period on a

hot Saturday afternoon cabana
boy Chris served fifty drinks.
He sold five drinks for $0.50,
fifteen for $0.75, fifteen for
$0.90, and fifteen for $1.10.
Compute the weighted mean of
the price of the drinks.

5($0.50)  15($0.75)  15($0.90)  15($1.15)

Xw 
5  15  15  15
$44.50
  $0.89
50
Example 4
 Advantages and disadvantages of the mean

•Advantages

–Has a lot of good theoretical properties

–Used as the basis of many statistical tests

–Good summary statistic for a symmetrical distribution

•Disadvantages

–Less useful for an asymmetric distribution

Can be distorted by outliers, therefore giving a less “typical”

value
Arithmetic Mean of Group Data
If z1 , z 2 , z3 ,.........., z k are the mid-values and f1 , f 2 , f 3 ,........, f k
are the corresponding frequencies, where the subscript ‘k’
stands for the number of classes, then the mean is

z 
 f z i i

f i

Geometric Mean
Geometric mean is defined as the positive root of the product of
observations. Symbolically,
It is also often used for a set of numbers whose values are meant to be
multiplied together or are exponential in nature, such as data on the
growth of the human population or interest rates of a financial
investment.
Find geometric mean of rate of growth: 34, 27, 45, 55, 22, 34 (raw)
 Geometric mean of Group data
•If the “n” non-zero and positive variate-values f 1 , f 2 ,......., f n

occur times,x nrespectively,

x1 , x 2 ,........, then the geometric mean of the
set of observations is defined by:
1

   n fi 
1
  x i 
N
G  x1
f1 f2 fn
x2  x n N

 i 1 
n
Where, N   fi
Harmonic Mean i 1

•Harmonic mean (formerly sometimes called the subcontrary

mean) is one of several kinds of average.

•Typically, it is appropriate for situations when the average of rates is

desired. The harmonic mean is the number of variables divided
 by the sum of the reciprocals of the variables. Useful for ratios
such as speed (=distance/time) etc.
•The harmonic mean H of the positive real numbers x1,x2, ..., xn is
defined to be
Ungroup Data Group Data
n
H  n H 
n


n
1

fi
i 1
xi i 1
xi
Find the Arithmetic , Geometric and Harmonic Mean
Class Frequency X fx f Log x f/x
(f)

20-29 3 24.5 73.5 4.17 8.17

30-39 5 34.5 172.5 7.69 6.9

40-49 20 44.5 890 32.97 2.23

50-59 10 54.5 545 17.37 5.45

60-69 5 64.5 322.5 9.05 12.9

Sum N=43 2003.5 71.24 35.64

 3- 19

The Median is the

midpoint of the values after
they have been ordered from
the smallest to the largest.
There are as many
values above the
median as below it in
the data array.

For an even set of values, the median will be the

arithmetic average of the two middle numbers and is
found at the (n+1)/2 ranked observation.

The Median
 3- 20

The ages for a sample of five college students are:

21, 25, 19, 20, 22.

Arranging the data

in ascending order
gives:

19, 20, 21, 22, 25.

Thus the median is

21.

The median (continued)

 3- 21

The heights of four basketball players, in inches,

are: 76, 73, 80, 75.

Arranging the data in

ascending order gives:

73, 75, 76, 80

The median is found
at the (n+1)/2 =
Thus the median is 75.5. (4+1)/2 =2.5th data
point.

Example 5
 3- 22

Properties of the Median

There is a unique median for each data set.

It is not affected by extremely large or small
values and is therefore a valuable measure of
location when such values occur.
It can be computed for ratio-level, interval-
level, and ordinal-level data.
It can be computed for an open-ended
frequency distribution if the median does not lie
in an open-ended class.

Properties of the Median

 3- 23

The Mode is another measure of location and

represents the value of the observation that appears
most frequently.

Example 6: The exam scores for ten students are:

81, 93, 84, 75, 68, 87, 81, 75, 81, 87. Because the score
of 81 occurs the most often, it is the mode.

Data can have more than one mode. If it has two

modes, it is referred to as bimodal, three modes,
trimodal, and the like.

The Mode: Example 6

 3- 24

The Median of a sample of data organized in a

frequency distribution is computed by:

n
 CF
Median  L  2 (i )
f

where L is the lower limit of the median class, CF is the

cumulative frequency preceding the median class, f is
the frequency of the median class, and i is the median
class interval.

The Median of Grouped Data

 3- 25

To determine the median class for grouped

data
Construct a cumulative frequency distribution.
Divide the total number of data values by 2.
Determine which class will contain this value. For
example, if n=50, 50/2 = 25, then determine which
class will contain the 25th value.

Finding the Median Class

 3- 26

Movies Frequency Cumulative

showing Frequency
1 up to 3 1 1
3 up to 5 2 3
5 up to 7 3 6
7 up to 9 1 7
9 up to 11 3 10

Example 12 continued
 3- 27

From the table, L=5, n=10, f=3, i=2, CF=3

n 10
 CF 3
Median  L  2 (i )  5  2 (2)  6.33
f 3

Example 12 continued
 3- 28

The Mode for grouped data is

approximated by the midpoint of the
class with the largest class frequency.

The modes in example 12 are 6 and 10

and so is bimodal.

The Mode of Grouped Data

The Mode of a sample of data organized in a frequency
distribution is computed by:

1
Mode  L  i
1   2
where L is the lower limit of the modal class , 1is the
difference between frequency of model class and pre
modal class,  2 is the difference between frequency of
model class and post modal class, and i is the model
class interval.
Example: the following data relate to the sales of 100 companies:

Sales( Rs. Lakhs)

Relationship among Mean, Median and Mode

When the values of mean, median

and mode are not equal then the
distribution is known as
asymmetrical or skewed.

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Left-Skewed Right-Skewed
Mean < Median Median < Mean

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In moderately skewed distribution
there is a relationship among mean,
median and mode. The relationship is:
Mode = 3Median - 2Mean

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