Measures of Central Tendency Computation of the Mean for Ungrouped Data

 It is also defined as a single value that is used to ∑ 𝒇𝒇𝒙𝒙𝒎𝒎

𝝁𝝁 =
describe the “center” of the data. 𝒏𝒏

 Measure of central tendency provides a very Where: µ = Mean

convenient way of describing a set of scores with a Σfxm = Sum of the product of the frequency and
x and the midpoint of the class
single number that describes the PERFORMANCE of the
n = total number of frequncy
group.

 There are three commonly used measures of central Mean for Grouped Data
tendency. These are the following:
Grouped data are the data or scores that are arranged
 MEAN in a frequency distribution.
 MEDIAN Frequency is the number of observations falling in a
 MODE category.

MEAN Frequency distribution is the arrangement of scores

according to category of classes including the
 It is also referred as the “arithmetic average” frequency.

 It is the most commonly used measure of the center

of data
Steps in Solving Mean for Grouped Data
 Computation of Sample Mean (Ungrouped Data)
1. Find the midpoint or class mark ( Xm) of each
∑ 𝑥𝑥 class or category using the formula
𝜇𝜇 = 𝑳𝑳𝑳𝑳 + 𝑼𝑼𝑼𝑼
𝑛𝑛 𝒙𝒙𝒎𝒎 =
𝟐𝟐
Where: µ = Mean Where: 𝑥𝑥𝑚𝑚 - Midpoint of the class
Σx = Sum of all the sample x LL – Lower limit of the class
n = total number of samples UL – Upper Limit of the class
2. Multiply the frequency and the corresponding
class mark f xm.
3. Find the sum of the results in step 2.
4. Solve the mean using the formula
Example: Scores of 15 students in Mathematics I quiz
consist of 25 items. The highest score is 25 and the Example: Scores of 40 students in a science class consist
lowest score is 14. Here are the scores: 25, 20, 18, 18, of 60 items and they are tabulated below.
17, 15, 15, and 14,. Find the mean in the following
scores

∑ 𝑥𝑥
𝜇𝜇 =
𝑛𝑛
25 + 20 + 18 + 18 + 17 + 15 + 15 + 14
𝜇𝜇 =
9

𝜇𝜇 =15.89

Analysis: The average performance of 15 students who

participated in mathematics quiz consisting of 25 items
is 15.89. The implication of this is that student who got
scores below 15.89 did not perform well in the said ∑ 𝑓𝑓𝑥𝑥𝑚𝑚
examination. Students who got scores higher than 𝜇𝜇 =
𝑛𝑛
15.89 performed well in the examination compared to
the performance of the whole class. 1345
𝜇𝜇 =
40

𝜇𝜇 = 33.625
Properties of the Mean Median of Grouped Data

• It measures stability. Mean is the most stable among 𝒏𝒏

− 𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄
other measures of central tendency because every 𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴 = 𝑳𝑳𝑩𝑩 + 𝟐𝟐 ∙ 𝒊𝒊
𝒇𝒇𝒇𝒇
score contributes to the value of the mean.
Where:
• It may easily affected by the extreme scores.
Md = Median
• The sum of each score’s distance from the mean is
zero. MC = median class is a category containing the n/2

• It may not be an actual score in the distribution. LB = lower boundary of the median class (MC)

• It can be applied to interval level of measurement. cf = cumulative frequency before the median class if the
scores are arranged from lowest to highest value
• It is very easy to compute.
fm = frequency of the median class
When to Use the Mean
i = class width or class interval
• Sampling stability is desired.

• Other measures are to be computed such as standard

deviation, coefficient of variation and skewness. Steps in Solving Median for Grouped Data

MEDIAN 1. Complete the table for cumulative frequency.

2. Get n/2 of the scores in the distribution so that
• Median is what divides the scores in the distribution you can identify MC.
into two equal parts. 3. Determine LB, cf, fm, and i.
• It is also known as the middle score or the 50th 4. Solve the median using the formula.
percentile. Example: Scores of 40 students in a science class
• Fifty percent (50%) lies below the median value and consist of 60 items and they are tabulated below. The
50% lies above the median value. highest score is 54 and the lowest score is 10

Median for Ungrouped Data

1. Arrange the scores (from lowest to highest or

highest to lowest).
2. Determine the middle most score in a
distribution if n is an odd number and get the
average of the two middle most scores if n is an
even number

Example 1: Find the median score of 7 students in an

English class.

x (score) 19 17 16 15 10 5 2
Solution:
Md = 15 𝑛𝑛 40
= = 20
Example: Find the median score of 8 students in an 2 2
English class. The cumulative frequency containing n / 2 is the class
35 – 39. 𝑛𝑛
x (score) 30 19 17 16 15 10 5 2 − 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐
𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 = 𝐿𝐿 + 2 ∙ 𝑖𝑖
LL of the MC is 35. 𝐵𝐵
𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
16 + 15
𝑀𝑀𝑑𝑑 =
2 LB = 34.5 20 − 17
𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 = 34.5 + ∙5
31 9
𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 = cf = 17
2
𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 = 36.17
fm = 9
𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 = 15.5
i=5
Properties of the Median Example: Scores of 40 students in a science class
consist of 60 items and they are tabulated below. Find
• It may not be an actual observation in the data set. the mode.
• It is not affected by extreme values because median is
a positional measure.

• It can be applied in ordinal level.

When to Use the Median

• The exact midpoint of the score distribution is desired.

• There are extreme scores in the distribution

MODE

The mode or the modal score is a score or scores that

occurred most in the distribution.

It is classified as unimodal, bimodal, trimodal or

mulitimodal.
Modal Class = 35 – 39
LL of MC = 35
Unimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of only
LB = 34.5
one mode. d1 = 9 – 2 = 7
d2 = 9 – 6 = 3
Bimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of two
i= 5
modes.
𝑑𝑑1
Trimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of three 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 = 𝐿𝐿𝐵𝐵 + ∙ 𝑖𝑖
𝑑𝑑1 + 𝑑𝑑2
modes or multimodal is a distribution of scores that
consists of more than two modes. 7
𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 = 34.5 + ∙5
7+3
35
𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 = 34.5 +
Mode for Grouped Data 10

In solving the mode value in grouped data, use the 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 = 38

formula:
Properties of the mode
𝒅𝒅𝟏𝟏
𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴 = 𝑳𝑳𝑩𝑩 + ∙ 𝒊𝒊 • It can be used when the data are qualitative as well as
𝒅𝒅𝟏𝟏 + 𝒅𝒅𝟐𝟐
quantitative.
Where: • It may not be unique.
• It is affected by extreme values.
LB = lower boundary of the modal class • It may not exist.

Modal Class (MC) = is a category containing the highest When to Use the Mode
frequency
• When the “typical” value is desired
d1 = difference between the frequency of the modal • When the data set is measured on a nominal scale.
class and the frequency above it, when the scores are
arranged from lowest to highest.

d2 = difference between the frequency of the modal

class and the frequency below it, when the scores are
arranged from lowest to highest.

i = size of the class interval

Variance and Standard Deviation (Grouped Data)

The variance of a set of values, which we denote by σ2 is Solution:

defined as,
x f xm fxm
(∑ 𝑓𝑓)[∑(𝑓𝑓𝑥𝑥 2 )] − [∑(𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓)]2
2
𝜎𝜎 = 10 – 14 5 12 60
∑ 𝑓𝑓 (∑ 𝑓𝑓 − 1) 15 – 19 2 17 34
20 – 24 3 22 66
Or we can use the alternative formula;
25 – 29 5 27 135
30 – 34 2 32 64
∑ 𝒇𝒇𝒙𝒙𝒎𝒎 𝟐𝟐
𝝈𝝈𝟐𝟐 = − 𝝁𝝁𝟐𝟐 35 – 39 9 37 333
𝒏𝒏 40 – 44 6 42 252
where:
∑ 𝑓𝑓𝑥𝑥𝑚𝑚 45 – 49 3 47 141
𝜇𝜇 = 50 – 54 5 52 260
𝑛𝑛

∑ 𝑓𝑓𝑥𝑥𝑚𝑚
𝜇𝜇 =
Meanwhile; the standard deviation, which we denote 𝑛𝑛
by σ, is defined as,
1345
𝜇𝜇 =
40
∑ 𝒇𝒇𝒙𝒙𝒎𝒎 𝟐𝟐
𝝈𝝈 = � − 𝝁𝝁𝟐𝟐
𝒏𝒏 𝜇𝜇 = 33.625

Or simply, x f xm fxm xm2 fxm2

10 – 14 5 12 60 144 720
𝝈𝝈 = �𝝈𝝈𝟐𝟐 15 – 19 2 17 34 289 578
20 – 24 3 22 66 484 1452
Steps in finding the variance and standard deviation: 25 – 29 5 27 135 729 3645
30 – 34 2 32 64 1024 2048
1. Get the mean of the data. 35 – 39 9 37 333 1369 12321
2. Square the midpoint of the median class. Write 40 – 44 6 42 252 1764 10584
the result in the column xm2. 45 – 49 3 47 141 2209 6627
3. Multiply the result obtained from the previous 50 – 54 5 52 260 2704 13520
step to the corresponding frequency. Write the
result in the column fxm2.
4. Use the formula of the variance to obtain the
∑ 𝑓𝑓𝑥𝑥𝑚𝑚 2
variance. 2
𝜎𝜎 = − 𝜇𝜇2
5. Get the square root of the result obtained from 𝑛𝑛
the previous step to get the standard deviation.
51495
𝜎𝜎 2 = − (33.625)2
Example: 40
Scores of 40 students in a science class consist of 60 𝜎𝜎 2 = 156.7344
items and they are tabulated below.

Find the variance and the standard deviation.

𝜎𝜎 = �𝜎𝜎 2
x f
𝜎𝜎 = √156.7344
10 – 14 5
15 – 19 2 𝜎𝜎 = 12.5194
20 – 24 3
25 – 29 5
30 – 34 2
35 – 39 9
40 – 44 6
45 – 49 3
50 – 54 5