Module 5: Attributes

Dr. A. N. Basugade
M.Sc. Ph.D
Head, Department of Statistics,
GopalKrishnaGokhaleCollege,Kolhapur
Email – [email protected]

Dr. A. N. Basugade
Overview

 Definition

 Order of class and class frequency

 Consistency of Attributes

 Independence &Association of Attributes

 Coefficients of Association

 Coefficient of Colligation
Dr. A. N. Basugade
 Definition: An attribute is a quality or a characteristic
which cannot be measured but which can be marked by their
presence or absence. For instance, sex, literacy, honesty,
nationality etc. are attributes. Given an attribute the
population can be divided into two classes; one possessing
that attribute and the other not possessing it. Such a
classification into two classes is called dichotomous.

 Notations: Suppose the population is divided into two

classes according to the presence or absence of an attribute.
The class possessing the attribute is called a positive class
and is denoted by capital letters A, B, C etc. The class not
possessing the attribute is called a negative class and is
denoted by small Greek letters α, β, γ etc. Thus, if ‘A'
denotes the class of 'males' then ' α ' will denote the class of
'females';

Dr. A. N. Basugade
 Order of Classes and Class-Frequencies: A class
representing one attribute is called a class of first order.
Thus, A, B, C, α, β, γ are classes of first order. A class
representing two attribute is called a class of second order.
Thus, AB, AC, Aβ etc. are classes of second order. Similarly,
AβC, ABC, αβC are classes of third order. i. e. order denotes
the number of attributes in that class.

 Class-Frequencies: The number of items belonging to a

class is called the frequency of that class. The class
frequency is denoted by putting the letter (or letters)
denoting the class in a bracket. Thus, (A) stands for the
number of items possessing the attribute A ; (αB) stands for
the number of items, not possessing A and possessing B.
 The frequency of a positive class is called positive class
frequency e.g. (AB) and frequency of a negative class is
called negative class frequency e.g. (αβγ ).
Dr. A. N. Basugade
 Ultimate Class frequencies: The class-frequencies of
highest order are called ultimate class-frequencies. Thus, in the
case of two attributes class-frequencies of order two are ultimate
class-frequencies. If A and B are attributes then (AB), (Aβ),
(αB), (αβ) are ultimate class-frequencies. If we are considering
n attributes, the Ultimate class frequencies will have n symbols.

 Thus the total number of ultimate class frequencies in case of

two attributes are 22 = 4 and for three attributes are 23 = 8

 The total number of ultimate class frequencies in case of n

attributes are 2n

 The total number of positive class frequencies are 2n

 The total number of class frequencies of all order are 3n

Dr. A. N. Basugade
 Consistency of Data: If all the class frequencies are positive
then the data is said to be consistent. Or if all the ultimate class-
frequencies are non-negative then the data is consistent.

 Conditions of Consistency: For one attribute

(i) (A) > 0, (ii) (α) > 0. But (A)+(α)= N,
(iii) (A) ≤ N, (iv) (α) ≤ N

For Two attributes

(i) N = (A) +(α) = (B) +(β)
(ii) (A) = (AB) + (Aβ), and (B) = (AB) + (αB)
(α) = (αB) + (αβ), and (β) = (Aβ) + (αβ)

Dr. A. N. Basugade
 Class symbols as an operator: If we look at the class symbols
A, B as an operator, A stands for the ratio of items possessing
the attribute A.Then AN means multiplying N by this ratio but
this is the class frequency (A) of A. Hence, we have AN = (A).
Similarly, A(B) means multiplying (B) by the ratio A, but this
will be the number of members having both attributes AB i.e.
(AB). Thus, we have, A*(B)=(AB)=AB*N.
Using class symbol as an operator we can obtain various
relations as follows :
i) (AB) = N-(α)-(β)+(αβ)
ii) (αβ) = N-(A)-(B)+(AB)
iii) (AB) ≥ (A) + (B) - N
iv) (αβ) ≥ (α) + (β) - N

Dr. A. N. Basugade
 Thus the consistency conditions for two attributes are
(i) (AB) ≥ 0. (ii) (αβ) ≥ 0 (Aβ) ≥ 0.
(iii) (αB) ≥ 0 (iv) (αβ) ≥ 0
(v) (A) ≥ (AB) . (vi) (B) ≥ (AB)
(vii) (AB) ≥ (A) + (B) – N

 The consistency conditions for Three attributes are

(i) (ABC) ≥ 0. (ii) (AB) ≥ (ABC)
(iii) (AC) ≥ (ABC) (iv) (BC) ≥ (ABC)
(v) (ABC) ≥ (AB) +(AC) - (B)
(vi) (ABC) ≥ (AB) + +(AC) - (A)
(vii) (ABC) ≥ (AC) + (BC) – (C)
(viii) (ABC) ≤ (AB) + (BC) + (AC) – (A) – (B) - (C) + N
Dr. A. N. Basugade
 (ix) (AB) + (AC) + (BC) ≥ (A) + (B) + (C) – N
(x) (AC) + (BC) - (AB) ≤ (C)
(xi) (AB) + (BC) - (AC) ≤ (B)
(xii) (AB) + (AC) - (BC) ≤ (A)

Example 1: From the following data check whether the data are
consistent or not. (A) = 120, (B) = 165, (AB) = 160, N = 400.
Solution : (αB) = (B) – (AB) = 165-160 = 5,
(α) = N - (A) = 400-120 = 280
(αβ) = (α) – (αB) = 280 – 5 = 275
(Aβ) = (A) – (AB) = 120 – 160 = -40
since one of the ultimate class frequency is negative the given
data is not consistent.

Dr. A. N. Basugade
 Independence of Attributes:
The two attributes are said to be independent if one is
not affected by the presence or absence of other.
If two attributes A and B are independent, we expect
the proportion of A’s amongst B’s is same the
proportion of A’s amongst β’s.
i. e. (AB)/(B) = (Aβ)/ (β)
Similarly, (Aβ)/(A) = (αB)/ (α)
 Criterion of independence : If A and B are independent then
by the above definition of independence we get,
(AB)/(B) = (Aβ)/ (β)
and (Aβ)/(A) = (αB)/ (α) which gives
Dr. A. N. Basugade
 (i) (Aβ)/(A) = (αβ)/ (α)

(ii) (AB) = (A) *(B)/ (N)

(iii) (AB) * (αβ) = (Aβ)*(αB)

These are the three criterions of independence of attributes.

 Symbols (AB)0 and δ : If A & B are independent then we have

(AB) = (A) *(B)/ (N), we denote (AB)0 = (A)(B)/ (N)
and the difference between (AB) &(AB)0 is denoted by δ,
i.e. δ = (AB) - (AB)0 = (AB) - (A)(B)/ (N)

If A & B are independent, then δ = 0,

δ can also be represented as
δ = (1/N) [(AB) (αβ) - (Aβ) – (αB)]

Dr. A. N. Basugade
 Association of Attributes:
To study relationship if the characteristics cannot be measured
i.e. to study relationship between two attributes we use the
technique called association of attributes.
If the attributes are not independent and they are related with
each other in some way then they are said to be associated to
one another.
i) Positive Association: If ‘A’ occurs large number of times with
‘B’ than β then A & B are said to be Positively Associated.
i.e. (AB) > (A)(B)/ (N) then A & B are Positively Associated.
ii) Negative Association: If ‘A’ occurs small number of times
with ‘B’ or α occurs large number of times with ‘B’ then they
are said to be negatively Associated.
i.e. (AB) < (A)(B)/ (N) then A & B are Negatively Associated.
i.e. if δ > 0 then A & B are Positively Associated and
if δ < 0 then A & B are Negatively Associated.
Dr. A. N. Basugade
iii) If A cannot occur without B or all A’s are B’s then (AB) = (A)
then A & B are completely associated.

iv) If all A’s are β’s then (αB) = (α) then A & B are completely
disassociated.

 Measures of Association
There are two methods of measuring association:
a) Yule's coefficient of Association, b) Coefficient of Colligation.

a) Yule's Coefficient of association : This is the most

commonly used method of studying association and it is
denoted by Q and is defined by

Dr. A. N. Basugade
 i) It A and B are independent then (AB)(αβ) - (Aβ)(αB) = 0,
hence Q = 0.

ii) If A and B are completely associated, then (AB) = (A) and

(AB) = (B) i.e. (Aβ) = 0 and (αB) = 0. Thus Q =1

iii) If A and B are completely dissociated, then (AB) = 0 &

(αβ) = 0 Thus Q = -1
i.e. Q lies between -1 to 1.
b) Coefficient of Colligation : Another measure of
association coefficient suggested by Yule is the coefficient of
colligation denoted by Y and is given by

Dr. A. N. Basugade
 i) If A & B are independent then (AB)(αβ) = (Aβ)(αB)
Thus Y = 0

ii) If A and B are completely associated, then (AB) = (A) and

(AB) = (B) i.e. (Aβ) = 0 and (αB) = 0. Thus Y =1

iii) If A and B are completely dissociated, then (AB) = 0 &

(αβ) = 0 Thus Y = -1
i.e. Y lies between -1 to 1.
Relation between Q and Y is
Q = 2Y/(1+y2 )

and

Dr. A. N. Basugade
 Summary: (Learning Outcomes)
At the end of this module student must be able to

 Define Attributes.

 Explain Order of class and class frequency.

 Describe Consistency of Attributes.

 Explain Independence &Association of Attributes.

 Define Coefficients of Association and Coefficient of

Colligation.
Dr. A. N. Basugade