Chapter 2: Mathematics as a Tool (Part I)

Overview

The field of statistics is the science of learning from data. Statistical

knowledge helps you use the proper methods to collect the data, employ
analyses, and effectively present the results. Statistics is a crucial process
behind how we make discoveries in science, make decisions based on data,
and make predictions. Statistics allows you to understand a subject much
more deeply.

In performing all these processes involved, the application of statistical

tools and techniques is necessary. Statistical tools derived from mathematics
are useful in processing and managing numerical data in order to describe a
phenomenon and predict values.

General Objectives:

This chapter emphasize the use of different statistical tools to process

and manage numerical data.

Lesson 1: Data Management

Data come in different forms and from different sources. You read them
in a daily newspaper, hear them over the radio, see them on television, and
find them on the internet. We have great quantities of data related to sports,
business, education, traffic, law enforcement, and hundreds of some other
human activities. These vast data are made available to assist us in our
decision-making. If these data are not properly managed and analyzed,
everything will be meaningless and void or lead us to false and unreliable
information.
Specific objectives:

At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:

1. Organize and present data in forms that are both meaningful and
useful to decision makers;
2. Use a variety of statistical tools to process and manage numerical
data;
3. Use the methods of linear regression and correlation to predict the
value of a variable given certain conditions; and
4. Advocate the use of statistical data in making important decisions.

I. Basic Statistical Concepts

The study of statistics can be organized in different ways. One way is

to subdivided statistics into two branches: descriptive statistics and inferential
statistics. To understand the difference between the two, definitions of
population and sample are helpful.

A population generally consists of the totality of the observations,

individuals, or objects in which the investigator is interested. One should not
start collecting data without carefully defining the population to be considered
in the study. It should be in agreement with the objective, and its statistical
elements should be properly identified. A sample is a portion of a population.
This is a small but representative cross section of the population. It is used to
give inferences on the population from which it was extracted.

If a researcher is using data gathered on a group to describe or reach

conclusions about that same group, the statistics are called descriptive
statistics. For example, if an instructor produces statistics to summarize a
class’ examination performance and uses those statistics to reach
conclusions about that class only, the statistics are descriptive. The instructor
can use these statistics to discuss class average or talk about the range of
class scores.
 If a researcher gathers data from a sample and uses the statistics
generated to reach conclusions about the population from which the sample
was drawn, it is called inferential statistics. For example, a soft drink company
asked 500 students from a certain university about the number of bottles of
soft drink they consumed in a week and infer from the data the number of
bottles of soft drink consumed by all 50,000 students in the campus.

Statistician and researchers are interested in particular variables of a

sample or population. A variable is a characteristic of interest about an object
under investigation that can take on different possible outcomes, such as age,
color, height, weight, and religious preference.

There are basically two kinds of variables:

1. Qualitative variables are variables that can be placed into distinct

categories, according to some characteristic or attribute. For example, if
subjects are classified according to sex (male or female), then the variable
gender is qualitative. Some other examples of qualitative variables are
religious preference and geographic location.

2. Quantitative variables are numerical and can be ordered or ranked. For

example, the variable age is numerical, and people can be ranked according
to their ages. Some other examples of quantitative variables are height,
weight, and body temperature.

Quantitative variables can be further classified into two groups: discrete and
continuous.

Discrete variables can be assigned values such as 0, 1, 2, an 3 and are said

to be countable. The data are obtained by means of counting. Example of
discrete variables are the number of children in a family and the number of
calls received by a telephone operator each day for a month. Continuous
variables, on the other hand, can assume an infinite number of values in an
interval between any two specific values. The data for this variable are
obtained by means of direct or indirect measuring. Temperature, for example,
is a continuous variable, since the variable can assume an infinite number of
values between any two given temperatures.
The bulk of data gathered every day should not be analyzed the same way
statistically because the values are represented differently. For this reason,
data are categorized according to four levels of data measurement:

1. Nominal level – is the lowest level of data measurement. The numbers

representing nominal data are used only for identification of classification.
These numbers may serve as labels and have no meaning attached to their
magnitude. Examples are ID number of students, numbers on the uniform
jerseys of basketball players, and plate numbers of vehicles.

2. Ordinal level – is higher that the nominal level. The numbers are used not
only to classify items but also to reflect some rank or order of the individuals
or objects. It indicates that objects in one category are not only different from
those in the other categories of the variable, but they may also be ranked as
either higher or lower. Bigger or smaller, better or worse than those in the
other categories. Examples are ranks given to the winners in a singing
contest, hotel classifications, and military ranks.

3. Interval level – is second to the highest of data measurement. The

measurements have all the properties of ordinal data; in addition, the distance
between consecutive numbers have meaning. The zero point value on this
level is arbitrary; that is, zero is just another point on the scale relative to a
certain concept and does not mean the absence of the phenomenon.
Examples are temperature reading in Celsius scale, scores in intelligence
tests, and scholastic grades of students.

4. Ratio level – is the highest level of data management. It has the same
properties as interval level but the zero point value of this level is absolute;
that is, the zero value represents the absence of the characteristic being
considered. Examples are height, weight, time, and volume.

Data that are collected must be organized and presented effectively for
analysis and interpretation. They can be presented in different forms as
follows:

1. Textual presentation – presents data in a paragraph form which combines

text and figures. Examples are data in business, finance, economics, or
industries which are used to make emphasis or to make comparisons,
contrasts, syntheses, generalizations, or findings.

2. Tabular presentation – presents data in tables. Tabulation is a process of

summarizing classified and arranging them in table. It gives a more precise,
systematic, and orderly presentation of data in rows and columns. It makes
comparison of figures easy and comprehensible. The table below displays the
Philippine population by region based on the 2010 and 2015 censuses.

Table 1. Population Enumerated in 2010 & 2015

REGION 2010 2015

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION 92,337,852 100,981,437
CORDILLERA ADMINISTRATIVE 11,855,975 12,877,253
REGION
REGION I – ILOCOS 1,616,867 1,722,006
REGION II – CAGAYAN VALLEY 3,229,163 3,451,410
REGION III – CENTRAL LUZON 10,137,737 11,218,177
REGION IV – A – CALABARZON 12,609,803 14,414,774
MIMAROPA REGION 1 2,744,671 2,963,360
REGION V – BICOL 5,420,411 5,796,989
REGION VI – WESTERN VISAYAS 4,194,579 4,477,247
REGION VII – CENTRAL VISAYAS 5,513,514 6,041,903
NEGROS ISLAND REGION 2 4,194,525 4,414,131
REGION VIII – EASTERN VISAYAS 4,101,322 4,440,150
REGION IX – ZAMBOANGA PENINSULA 3,407,353 3,629,783
REGION X – NORTHERN MINDANAO 4,297,323 4,689,302
REGION XI – DAVAO 4,468,563 4,893,318
REGION XII – SOCCSKSARGEN 4,109,571 4,545,276
REGION XIII – CARAGA 2,429,224 2,596,709
ARMM 3,256,140 3,781,387
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority
3. Graphical presentation – is an effective method of presenting statistical
results and can present clear pictures of the data. There are several kinds
of graphs, and some of these are as follows:

Bar Graph consists of bar either vertically or

horizontally and usually constructed for comparative
purposes. The lengths of the bars represent the
frequencies or magnitudes of the quantities being
compared.

Line Graph shows the relationship between two

or more sets of quantities. It may show the relationship
between two variables, and it is best used to establish
trends.

Pie Chart is used to represent quantities that

make up a whole. It is a circular diagram cut into
subdivisions. The size of each section indicates the
proportion of each component part of the whole. The pie
chart can be constructed using percent or the actual
figures. The slices of the pie must be drawn in proportion
to the different values of the items.

Data analysis techniques enabling to meaningfully describe data with

numerical or in graphic form. This technique includes the following:

II. Measure of Central Tendency

Central tendency determines a numerical value in the central region of

a distribution of scores. Central tendency refers to the center of a distribution
of observations. There are three measures of central tendency: the mean, the
median, and the mode. These are used when general or over-all performance
of the class is compared to other classes.
1. Mean
The mean, ̅𝒙 is also called the arithmetic mean or average. It can
be affected by extreme scores. It is stable, and varies less from sample to
sample. It is used if the most reliable measure is desired and when there are
a few with very high values and a few with very low values. The mean is the
balance point of a score distribution.
A. Ungrouped Data
a. Arithmetic mean (denoted by 𝑥̅) or simply mean is the sum
of all values in a data set divided by the number of values that are summed.
It is written mathematically as
∑𝑥
𝑥̅ =
𝑛

Where x = individual value

n = total number of values

The mean is a more stable or reliable measure of central tendency in

which its value is dependent upon every item in the data set. It is preferred for
interval or ratio measurements and is used in the computation of some other
advanced statistical measures.

Example. The following are the scores in a quiz by ten students in Algebra.
Find the mean score of the data set.

5 12 20 16 15 23 10 18 7 11

Solution: From the given data set, n = 10

Solve for the mean

5+12+20+16+15+23+10+18+7+11 137
𝑥̅ = 10 =
10 = 13.7
 Sometimes each value in the data set is associated with a certain
weight or degree of importance. In such cases, the weighted mean is
computed.

The weighted mean (denoted by 𝑥̅w) of a set of values can be computed

by multiplying each value with its corresponding weight and taking the sum of
the products and then divided by the total number of weights written as

∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑤𝑖 𝑥𝑖
𝑥̅w = ∑𝑛 𝑤𝑖
𝑖=1

Where 𝑥𝑖 = individual value

𝑤𝑖 = weight of each value

Example: The final grades of a student in six courses were taken and are
shown below. Compute the student’s weighted mean grade.

COURSE NO. OF UNITS FINAL GRADE

GE 701 3 2.5
GE 702 6 2.0
GE703 3 1.5
GE 706 3 1.5
GE 709 5 2.5
PE 101 2 1.0

Solution: Solve for the weighted grade of each course.

NO. OF UNITS FINAL GRADE

COURSE 𝒘𝒊 𝒙𝒊
(𝒘𝒊 ) (𝒙𝒊 )
GE 701 3 2.5 7.50
GE 702 6 2.0 12.00
GE703 3 1.5 4.50
GE 706 3 1.5 4.50
GE 709 5 2.5 12.50
PE 101 2 1.5 3.00
 ∑ 𝑤𝑖 = 22 ∑(𝑤𝑖 𝑥𝑖 ) =
44.00
Thus, the weighted mean is

𝑥̅w = ∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑤𝑖 𝑥𝑖
∑𝑛 𝑤𝑖 =4422 = 2.00
𝑖=1

b. Grouped Data
There are two ways on how to solve for the value of mean given the
grouped data or frequency distribution.

a. by midpoint method

̅𝒙 = ∑𝒌
𝒊=𝟏 𝒇𝒊 𝒙𝒊
𝒏

Where:
𝑥̅ = sample mean
𝑓𝑖 = frequency of the ith class
𝑥𝑖 = midpoint of the ith class n
= sample size

Weights of the Frequency (𝑓𝑖 Midpoint (𝑥𝑖) 𝒇 𝒊 𝒙𝒊

Cubs )
201 – 210 3 205.5 616.5
191 – 200 8 195.5 1564.0
181 – 190 12 185.5 2226.0
171 – 180 11 175.5 1930.5
161 – 170 9 165.5 1489.5
151 - 160 2 155.5 311.0
Total 45 ∑ 𝒇𝒊 𝒙𝒊 = 8137.5
Note: n = 45
∑𝟔𝒊=𝟏 𝒇𝒊 𝒙𝒊 = 3(205.5)+8(195.5)+…+2(311.0) = 8137.5
Therefore:
∑𝒌 𝒇𝒊 𝒙𝒊
𝒊=𝟏
̅𝒙 = 𝒏

8137.5
= 45

= 180.83
 a) by coded deviation method

̅𝒙 = ∑𝒌𝒊=𝟏
̅𝒙̅𝟎̅ + 𝒇𝒊 𝒅𝒊
i[ ]
𝒏

Where:
𝑥̅ = sample mean
̅𝑥̅0̅ = assumed mean or the midpoint where the zero code is
assigned
𝑓𝑖 = frequency of the ith class
𝑑𝑖 = code assigned to the ith class
𝑛 = sample size

Rule of Thumb: Assign a zero code to the class with the highest frequency.
Negative codes with one as the deviation are assigned to the classes from a
class with zero code going down and positive codes with one as the deviation
to classes going up. This is with the assumption that the distribution starts
from the highest class to the lowest class.

Sample solution of finding the mean score of the grouped data below
using the coded deviation method:
Weights Frequency Midpoint 𝒅𝒊 𝒇𝒊 𝒅𝒊
of the Cubs (𝒇𝒊 𝑖 ) (𝒙𝒊 )
201 – 210 3 205.5 2 6
191 – 200 8 195.5 1 8
181 – 190 12 185.5 0 0
171 – 180 11 175.5 -1 -11
161 – 170 9 165.5 -2 -18
151 - 160 2 155.5 -3 -6
Total 45 -21

Note: n = 45
i = 10
̅𝒙̅𝟎̅ = 185.5
 𝒌
∑𝒊=𝟏 𝒇𝒊 𝒅𝒊 = (6)+(8)+(0)+…+(-6) = -21

Therefore:

̅𝒙 = ̅𝒙̅𝟎̅ + ∑𝒌𝒊=𝟏
𝒇𝒊 𝒅𝒊
i[ ]
𝒏

= 185.5 + 10 ) = 180.83
(−21
45