Chapter 3

Data Description

© McGraw-Hill, Bluman, 5th ed, Chapter

3 1
Chapter 3 Overview
Introduction
 3-1 Measures of Central Tendency
 3-2 Measures of Variation
 3-3 Measures of Position
 3-4 Exploratory Data Analysis

Bluman, Chapter 3 2
Chapter 3 Objectives
1. Summarize data using measures of
central tendency.
2. Describe data using measures of
variation.
3. Identify the position of a data value in a
data set.

Bluman, Chapter 3 3
Introduction
Traditional Statistics
 Average
 Variation
 Position

Bluman, Chapter 3 4
3.1 Measures of Central Tendency
 A statistic is a characteristic or measure
obtained by using the data values from a
sample.
 A parameter is a characteristic or
measure obtained by using all the data
values for a specific population.

Bluman, Chapter 3 5
Measures of Central Tendency
Mean

Arithmetic Mean
Weighted Mean
Geometric Mean
Harmonic Mean
Median

Mode
Bluman, Chapter 3 6
Measures of Central Tendency:
Mean (Ungrouped Data)
 The mean is the quotient of the sum of
the values and the total number of values.
 The symbol X is used for sample mean.
X
X1  X 2  X 3   Xn

 X
n n
 For a population, the Greek letter μ (mu)
is used for the mean.

X1  X 2  X 3   XN

 X
N N
Bluman, Chapter 3 7
Example 3-1: Days Off per Year
The data represent the number of days off per
year for a sample of individuals selected from
nine different countries. Find the mean.
20, 26, 40, 36, 23, 42, 35, 24, 30

X
X1  X 2  X 3   Xn

 X
n n
20  26  40  36  23  42  35  24  30 276
X   30.7
9 9

The mean number of days off is 30.7 years.

Bluman, Chapter 3 8
1. If the mean of five values is 64, find the
sum of the values.
2. If the mean of five values is 8.2 and four
of the values are 6, 10, 7, and 12, find the
fifth value.
 3. The average of 40 numbers is 50 and
the average of 60 other numbers is 30.
What is the average of all100 numbers?
Bluman, Chapter 3 9
3. Find the mean of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50.
a. Add 10 to each value and find the mean.
b. Subtract 10 from each value and find the
mean.
c. Multiply each value by 10 and find the
mean.
d. Divide each value by 10 and find the
mean.
e. Make a general statement about each
situation.
Bluman, Chapter 3 10
Measures of Central Tendency:
Weighted Mean
 Find the weighted mean of a variable by
multiplying each value by its
corresponding weight and dividing the
sum of the products by the sum of the
weights.
w1 X1  w2 X 2   wn X n  wX
X 
w1  w2   wn w
Bluman, Chapter 3 11
Example 3-17: Grade Point Average
A student received the following grades. Find
the corresponding GPA.
Course Credits, w Grade, X
English Composition 3 A (4 points)
Introduction to Psychology 3 C (2 points)
Biology 4 B (3 points)
Physical Education 2 D (1 point)

X  wX

3  4  3  2  4  3  2 1 32
  2.7
w 3 3 4  2 12

The grade point average is 2.7.

Bluman, Chapter 3 12
 The harmonic mean (HM) is defined as the
number of values divided by the sum of
the reciprocals of each value.
 This mean is useful for finding the average
speed.
 Example 1.
Find the harmonic mean of 1, 4, 5, and 2.

Bluman, Chapter 3 13
2. A person drove 100 miles at 40 miles per
hour and returned driving 50 miles per hour.
Find the average miles per hour.
3. A salesperson drives 300 miles round trip
at 30 miles per hour going to Chicago and
45 miles per hour returning home. Find the
average miles per hour.

Bluman, Chapter 3 14
 The geometric mean (GM) is defined as
the nth root of the product of n values.
 The geometric mean is useful in finding
the average of percentages, ratios,
indexes, or growth rates.
 Example 1. Find geometric mean of 4 and
16.
 Example 2. Find the geometric mean of 1,
3, and 9. Bluman, Chapter 3 15
 Example 3. if a person receives a 20%
raise after 1 year of service and a 10%
raise after the second year of service, find
the average percentage raise per year.
 Example 4. The price increases, in
percentages, for the cost of engineering
materials in a specific geographic region
for the past 3 years were 1, 3, and 5.5%.
Find the average percentage per year. 16
Bluman, Chapter 3
Measures of Central Tendency:
Mean for Grouped Data
 The mean for grouped data is calculated
by multiplying the frequencies and
midpoints of the classes.

X
 f X m

Bluman, Chapter 3 17
Example 3-3: Miles Run
Below is a frequency distribution of miles
run per week. Find the mean.
Class Boundaries Frequency
5.5 - 10.5 1
10.5 - 15.5 2
15.5 - 20.5 3
20.5 - 25.5 5
25.5 - 30.5 4
30.5 - 35.5 3
35.5 - 40.5 2
f = 20
Bluman, Chapter 3 18
Example 3-3: Miles Run
Class Frequency, f Midpoint, Xm f ·Xm
5.5 - 10.5 1 8 8
10.5 - 15.5 2 13 26
15.5 - 20.5 3 18 54
20.5 - 25.5 5 23 115
25.5 - 30.5 4 28 112
30.5 - 35.5 3 33 99
35.5 - 40.5 2 38 76
f = 20  f ·Xm = 490

X
 f X m

490
 24.5 miles
n 20
Bluman, Chapter 3 19
Measures of Central Tendency:
Median
 The median is the midpoint of the data
array. The symbol for the median is MD.
 The median will be one of the data values
if there is an odd number of values.
 The median will be the average of two
data values if there is an even number of
values.
Bluman, Chapter 3 20
Example 3-4: Hotel Rooms
The number of rooms in the seven hotels in
downtown Pittsburgh is 713, 300, 618, 595,
311, 401, and 292. Find the median.

Sort in ascending order.

292, 300, 311, 401, 596, 618, 713

Select the middle value.

MD = 401

The median is 401 rooms.

Bluman, Chapter 3 21
Example 3-6: Tornadoes in the U.S.
The number of tornadoes that have
occurred in the United States over an 8-
year period follows. Find the median.
684, 764, 656, 702, 856, 1133, 1132, 1303

Find the average of the two middle values.

656, 684, 702, 764, 856, 1132, 1133, 1303

764  856 1620

MD    810
2 2

The median number of tornadoes is 810.

Bluman, Chapter 3 22
Measures of Central Tendency:
Mode
 The mode is the value that occurs most
often in a data set.
 It is sometimes said to be the most typical
case.
 There may be no mode, one mode
(unimodal), two modes (bimodal), or many
modes (multimodal).

Bluman, Chapter 3 23
Example 3-9: NFL Signing Bonuses
Find the mode of the signing bonuses of
eight NFL players for a specific year. The
bonuses in millions of dollars are
18.0, 14.0, 34.5, 10, 11.3, 10, 12.4, 10

You may find it easier to sort first.

10, 10, 10, 11.3, 12.4, 14.0, 18.0, 34.5

Select the value that occurs the most.

The mode is 10 million dollars.

Bluman, Chapter 3 24
Example 3-10: Coal Employees in PA
Find the mode for the number of coal employees
per county for 10 selected counties in
southwestern Pennsylvania.
110, 731, 1031, 84, 20, 118, 1162, 1977, 103, 752

No value occurs more than once.

There is no mode.

Bluman, Chapter 3 25
Example 3-11: Licensed Nuclear
Reactors
The data show the number of licensed nuclear
reactors in the United States for a recent 15-year
period. Find the mode.
104 104 104 104 104 107 109 109 109 110
109 111
111 112
112111
111109
109

104 and 109 both occur the most. The data set
is said to be bimodal.

The modes are 104 and 109.

Bluman, Chapter 3 26
Chapter 3
Data Description

Section 3-1
Example 3-12
Page #111

Bluman, Chapter 3 27
Example 3-12: Miles Run per Week
Find the modal class for the frequency distribution
of miles that 20 runners ran in one week.
Class Frequency
5.5 – 10.5 1
The modal class is
10.5 – 15.5 2
20.5 – 25.5.
15.5 – 20.5 3
20.5 – 25.5 5
25.5 – 30.5 4 The mode, the midpoint
30.5 – 35.5 3 of the modal class, is
35.5 – 40.5 2 23 miles per week.

Bluman, Chapter 3 28
Measures of Central Tendency:
Weighted Mean
 Find the weighted mean of a variable by
multiplying each value by its
corresponding weight and dividing the
sum of the products by the sum of the
weights.
w1 X1  w2 X 2   wn X n  wX
X 
w1  w2   wn w
Bluman, Chapter 3 29
Example 3-17: Grade Point Average
A student received the following grades. Find
the corresponding GPA.
Course Credits, w Grade, X
English Composition 3 A (4 points)
Introduction to Psychology 3 C (2 points)
Biology 4 B (3 points)
Physical Education 2 D (1 point)

X  wX

3  4  3  2  4  3  2 1 32
  2.7
w 3 3 4  2 12

The grade point average is 2.7.

Bluman, Chapter 3 30
Properties of the Mean
 Uses all data values.
 Varies less than the median or mode
 Used in computing other statistics, such as
the variance
 Unique, usually not one of the data values
 Cannot be used with open-ended classes
 Affected by extremely high or low values,
called outliers

Bluman, Chapter 3 31
Properties of the Median
 Gives the midpoint
 Used when it is necessary to find out
whether the data values fall into the upper
half or lower half of the distribution.
 Can be used for an open-ended
distribution.
 Affected less than the mean by extremely
high or extremely low values.

Bluman, Chapter 3 32
Properties of the Mode
 Used when the most typical case is
desired
 Easiest average to compute
 Can be used with nominal data
 Not always unique or may not exist

Bluman, Chapter 3 33
Properties of the Midrange
 Easy to compute.
 Gives the midpoint.
 Affected by extremely high or low values in
a data set

Bluman, Chapter 3 34
Distributions

Bluman, Chapter 3 35
3-2 Measures of Variation
How Can We Measure Variability?
Range

Variance

Standard Deviation
Coefficient of Variation
Chebyshev’s Theorem
Empirical Rule (Normal)
Bluman, Chapter 3 36
Measures of Variation: Range
 The range is the difference between the
highest and lowest values in a data set.

R  Highest  Lowest

Bluman, Chapter 3 37
Example 3-18/19: Outdoor Paint
Two experimental brands of outdoor paint are
tested to see how long each will last before
fading. Six cans of each brand constitute a
small population. The results (in months) are
shown. Find the mean and range of each group.
Brand A Brand B
10 35
60 45
50 30
30 35
40 40
20 25

Bluman, Chapter 3 38
Example 3-18/19: Outdoor Paint
Brand A Brand B   X 210
  35
10 35 Brand A: N 6
60 45 R  60  10  50
50 30
30 35
  X

210
 35
40 40 Brand B: N 6
20 25
R  45  25  20

The average for both brands is the same, but the range
for Brand A is much greater than the range for Brand B.

Which brand would you buy?

Bluman, Chapter 3 39
Measures of Variation: Variance &
Standard Deviation
 The variance is the average of the
squares of the distance each value is
from the mean.
 The standard deviation is the square
root of the variance.
 The standard deviation is a measure of
how spread out your data are.

Bluman, Chapter 3 40
•Uses of the Variance and
Standard Deviation
 To determine the spread of the data.
 To determine the consistency of a
variable.
 To determine the number of data values
that fall within a specified interval in a
distribution (Chebyshev’s Theorem).
 Used in inferential statistics.

Bluman, Chapter 3 41
Measures of Variation:
Variance & Standard Deviation
(Population Theoretical Model)
 The population variance is
 X  
2

 2

N
 The population standard deviation is
 X  
2


N

Bluman, Chapter 3 42
Example 3-21: Outdoor Paint
Find the variance and standard deviation for the
data set for Brand A paint. 10, 60, 50, 30, 40, 20
 X  
2

Months, X µ X - µ (X - µ)2  2

n
10 35 -25 625
1750
60 35 25 625 
50 35 15 225 6
30 35 -5 25  291.7
40 35 5 25
20 35 -15 225 1750

1750 6
 17.1
Bluman, Chapter 3 43
Measures of Variation:
Variance & Standard Deviation
(Sample Theoretical Model)
 The sample variance is
  X X
2

s 2

n 1
 The sample standard deviation is
 X  X 
2

s
n 1

Bluman, Chapter 3 44
Measures of Variation:
Variance & Standard Deviation
(Sample Computational Model)
 Is mathematically equivalent to the
theoretical formula.
 Saves time when calculating by hand
 Does not use the mean
 Is more accurate when the mean has
been rounded.
Bluman, Chapter 3 45
Measures of Variation:
Variance & Standard Deviation
(Sample Computational Model)
 The sample variance is
n X    X 
2 2

s 
2

n  n  1

 The sample standard deviation is

s s 2

Bluman, Chapter 3 46
Example 3-23: European Auto Sales
Find the variance and standard deviation for the
amount of European auto sales for a sample of 6
years. The data are in millions of dollars.
11.2, 11.9, 12.0, 12.8, 13.4, 14.3
n X    X 
2 2
X X 2
s 
2
11.2 125.44 n  n  1
11.9 141.61
6  958.94    75.6 
12.0 144.00 2
12.8 163.84 s 
2 s 2  1.28
13.4 179.56 6  5 s  1.13
14.3 204.49
75.6 958.94  
s 2  6  958.94  75.62 /  6  5 
Bluman, Chapter 3 47
Measures of Variation:
Coefficient of Variation
The coefficient of variation is the
standard deviation divided by the
mean, expressed as a percentage.
s
CVAR  100%
X
Use CVAR to compare standard
deviations when the units are different.
Bluman, Chapter 3 48
Chapter 3
Data Description

Section 3-2
Example 3-25
Page #132

Bluman, Chapter 3 49
Example 3-25: Sales of Automobiles
The mean of the number of sales of cars over a
3-month period is 87, and the standard
deviation is 5. The mean of the commissions is
$5225, and the standard deviation is $773.
Compare the variations of the two.
5
CVar  100%  5.7% Sales
87
773
CVar  100%  14.8% Commissions
5225

Commissions are more variable than sales.

Bluman, Chapter 3 50
Measures of Variation:
Range Rule of Thumb
The Range Rule of Thumb
approximates the standard deviation
as Range
s
4
when the distribution is unimodal and
approximately symmetric.

Bluman, Chapter 3 51
Measures of Variation:
Range Rule of Thumb
Use X  2 s to approximate the lowest
value and X  2 s to approximate the
highest value in a data set.
Example: X  10, Range  12

s
12
3
LOW  10  2  3   4
4 HIGH  10  2  3  16
Bluman, Chapter 3 52
Measures of Variation:
Chebyshev’s Theorem
The proportion of values from any data set that
fall within k standard deviations of the mean will
be at least 1-1/k2, where k is a number greater
than 1 (k is not necessarily an integer).
# of Minimum Proportion Minimum Percentage
standard within k standard within k standard
deviations, k deviations deviations
2 1-1/4=3/4 75%
3 1-1/9=8/9 88.89%
4 1-1/16=15/16 93.75%

Bluman, Chapter 3 53
 Chebyshev’s Theorem
The arithmetic mean biweekly amount contributed by the
Dupree Paint employees to the company’s profit-sharing plan is
$51.54, and the standard deviation is $7.51. At least what
percent of the contributions lie within plus 3.5 standard
deviations and minus 3.5 standard deviations of the mean?

Bluman, Chapter 3 54
54
Measures of Variation:
Chebyshev’s Theorem

Bluman, Chapter 3 55
Example 3-27: Prices of Homes
The mean price of houses in a certain
neighborhood is $50,000, and the standard
deviation is $10,000. Find the price range for
which at least 75% of the houses will sell.

Chebyshev’s Theorem states that at least 75% of

a data set will fall within 2 standard deviations of
the mean.
50,000 – 2(10,000) = 30,000
50,000 + 2(10,000) = 70,000
At least 75% of all homes sold in the area will have a
price range from $30,000 and $75,000.
Bluman, Chapter 3 56
Example 3-28: Travel Allowances
A survey of local companies found that the mean
amount of travel allowance for executives was
$0.25 per mile. The standard deviation was 0.02.
Using Chebyshev’s theorem, find the minimum
percentage of the data values that will fall
between $0.20 and $0.30.
.30  .25 / .02  2.5 1  1/ k  1  1/ 2.5
2 2

.25  .20  / .02  2.5  0.84

k  2.5
At least 84% of the data values will fall between
$0.20 and $0.30.
Bluman, Chapter 3 57
Measures of Variation:
Empirical Rule (Normal)
The percentage of values from a data set that
fall within k standard deviations of the mean in
a normal (bell-shaped) distribution is listed
below.
# of standard Proportion within k standard
deviations, k deviations
1 68%
2 95%
3 99.7%

Bluman, Chapter 3 58
Measures of Variation:
Empirical Rule (Normal)

Bluman, Chapter 3 59