Lecture 2

CO1: Apply the knowledge about the concepts of probability and statistics for the computer
applications.
CO3: Apply the knowledge about basic ideas of statistics including measures of central
tendency, correlation and regression.

Measures of central tendency

Questions such as: “how many calories do I eat per day?” or “how much time do

I spend talking per day?” can be hard to answer because the answer will vary from

day to day. It’s sometimes more sensible to ask “how many calories do I consume

on a typical day?” or “on average, how much time do I spend talking per day?”.

In this section we will study three ways of measuring central tendency in

data, the mean, the median and the mode. Each measure gives us a single value?

that might be considered typical. Each measure has its own strengths and

weaknesses.

Usually when two or more different data sets are to be compared it is necessary

to condense the data, but for comparison the condensation of data set into a

frequency distribution and visual presentation are not enough. It is then necessary

to summarize the data set in a single value. Such a value usually somewhere in

the center and represent the entire data set and hence it is called measure of central

tendency or averages. Since a measure of central tendency (i.e. an average)

indicates the location or the general position of the distribution on the X-axis

therefore it is also known as a measure of location or position.

A population of books, cars, people, polar bears, all games played by Babe

Ruth throughout his career etc.... is the entire collection of those objects. For any

given variable under consideration, each member of the population has a

particular value of the variable associated to them, for example the number of

home runs scored by Babe Ruth for each game played by him during his career.

These values are called data and we can apply our measures of central tendency

to the entire population, to get a single value (maybe more than one for the mode)

measuring central tendency for the entire population; or we can apply our

measures to a subset or sample of the population, to get an estimate of the central

tendency for the population.

A sample is a subset of the population, for example, we might collect data on

the number of home runs hit by Miguel Cabrera in a random sample of 20 games.

If we calculate the mean, median and mode using the data from a sample, the

results are called the sample mean, sample median and sample mode.

Sometimes we can look at the entire population, not just a subset. For example,

since Babe Ruth has now retired, so we might collect data on the number of home

runs he hit in his career. If we calculate the mean, median and mode using the
data collected from the entire population, the results are called the population

mean, population median and population mode.

Types of Measure of Central Tendency

• Arithmetic Mean
• Geometric Mean
• Harmonic Mean
• Mode
• Median

Arithmetic Mean or Simply Mean: “A value obtained by dividing the

sum of all the observations by the number of observations is called
arithmetic Mean”
𝑆𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
Mean = 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
 Numerical Example:

❖ Calculate the arithmetic mean for the following the

marks obtained by 9 students are given below:

xi
Using formula of arithmetic mean for ungrouped data: 45
32
37
46
39
36
41
∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 48
𝑥̅ = 36
𝑛 n

x
i=1
i = 360
n=9

360
𝑥̅ = = 40 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑠
9

➢ Numerical Example:

 Calculate the arithmetic mean for the following data given below:

◆ Using formula of direct method of arithmetic mean for grouped data:

∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 𝑥𝑖
𝑥̅ = 𝑛
∑𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖

𝑛 = ∑ 𝑓𝑖
𝑖=1

The weight recorded to the nearest grams of 60 apples picked

out at random from a consignment are given below:

106 107 76 82 109 107 115 93 187 95 123 125

111 92 86 70 126 68 130 129 139 119 115 128

100 186 84 99 113 204 111 141 136 123 90 115

98 110 78 185 162 178 140 152 173 146 158 194

148 90 107 181 131 75 184 104 110 80 118 82

Weight (grams) Frequency

65----84 09
85----104 10
105----124 17
125----144 10
145----164 05
165----184 04
185----204 05
Solution:

Weight grams) Midpoints (xi) Frequency (fi) fi xi

65----84 (65+84)/2=74.5 09 9 * 74.5=670.5

85----104 94.5 10 945.0

105----124 114.5 17 1946.5

125----144 134.5 10 1345.0

145----164 154.5 05 772.5

165----184 174.5 04 698.0

185----204 194.5 05 972.5

𝑛 𝑛

∑ 𝑓𝑖 = 60 ∑ 𝑓𝑖 𝑥𝑖 = 7350.0
𝑖=1 𝑖=1
 ∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 𝑥𝑖 7350.0
𝑥̅ = = = 122.5 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠
∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 60

◆ Using formula of short cut method of arithmetic mean for grouped data:

∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 𝐷𝑖
𝑥̅ = 𝐴 +
∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖

𝑛 = ∑ 𝑓𝑖
𝑖=1

Where 𝐷𝑖 = 𝑋𝑖 − 𝐴 and A is the provisional or assumed mean

Weight(grams) Midpoints (xi) Frequency ( fi ) Di=X i – A, = 114.5 fiDi

65----84 (65+84/2= 74.5 09 -40 -360

85----104 94.5 10 -20 -200

105----124 114.5 17 0 0

125----144 134.5 10 20 200

145----164 154.5 05 40 200

165----184 174.5 04 60 240

185----204 194.5 05 80 400

𝑛 𝑛

∑ 𝑓𝑖 = 60 ∑ 𝑓𝑖 𝐷𝑖
𝑖=1 𝑖=1

= 480
𝑥̅
∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 𝐷𝑖
=𝐴+ 𝑛
∑𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖
480
= 114.5 +
60
= 122.5 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠

❖ Using formula of step deviation method of arithmetic mean for grouped data:

∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 𝑢𝑖
𝑥̅ =𝐴+ 𝑛 ×ℎ
∑𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖

𝑥𝑖 −𝐴
𝑢𝑖 = Where h is the width of the class interval:
ℎ
 Midpoints (xi) 𝑥𝑖 −𝐴
Weight (grams) Frequency (fi) 𝑢𝑖 = ,A=
ℎ

114.5, h=20 fiui

65----84 (65+84)/ 2 = 74.5 09 -2 -18

85----104 94.5 10 -1 -10

105----124 114.5 17 0 0

125----144 134.5 10 1 10

145----164 154.5 05 2 10

165----184 174.5 04 3 12

185----204 194.5 05 4 20
𝑛 𝑛

∑ 𝑓𝑖 = 60 ∑ 𝑓𝑖 𝑢𝑖 = 24
𝑖=1 𝑖=1

∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 𝑢𝑖 24
𝑥̅ = 𝐴 + 𝑛 × ℎ = 114.5 + × 20 = 114.5 + 08 = 122.5 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠
∑𝑖=1 𝑓𝑖 60