Important Measures of Central Tendency

Important Measures of
Central Tendency
• Our basic requirement is not only to compress
data in tabular form but also to represent it by a
single figure, which summarizes or represents the
characteristics of data.
• This single figure is called an average.
• The measure of central tendency is typical value

around which other figure congregate is the
typical meaning of average.
• The value around which the observations tend to
cluster is called the “central tendency” or
“central position” of that group.
• There are three most commonly used measures

of central tendency. They are –
• Arithmetic mean
• Median
• Mode
Arithmetic mean:
The arithmetic average or mean (x) is obtained

by dividing sum of the values of all observations
in a series (Σx) by the number (n) constituting
the series.
Characteristics of arithmetic mean
• If number of observations and their arithmetic

average both are known then the aggregate or
the sum of items can be obtained.
• If the observation equal to the mean is excluded

the arithmetic mean of remaining observations
remain unchanged.
• If wrong figure is taken in the computation of

arithmetic mean, the correction can be made
without repeating the entire calculation.
• It has two mathematical properties
1. The algebraic sum of deviations of the individual
from arithmetic average is always zero.
2. Sum of square of deviations of set of items is
small when deviations are taken from the
arithmetic average. This is known as property of
least square.
• If each of the values of a variate x is increased
(or decreased ) by a constant b, the arithmetic
mean also increased or decreases by same
amount.
• If each of the values of a variate x is multiplied by

constant k, the arithmetic mean is also multiplied
by the same amount k.
Merit of arithmetic mean:
• It is rigidly defined.
• It is easy to understand and easy to calculate.
• It takes all values in consideration, it is

considered to be more representative of the
distribution.
• If numbers of items are sufficiently large, it is

more accurate and more reliable.
• It can be calculated if total and numbers of

observations are known.
Demerits of arithmetic mean:
• It cannot be obtained by inspection nor located

through frequency graph.
• It cannot be used for qualitative data.
• It is affected very much by extreme values.
• It cannot be calculated if extreme classes are

open.
Example: Calculate the Arithmetic mean for the following data.
40 50 55 78 58 60 73 35 53 48
Solut
ion :
Sr.
X
No.
1 40
2 50
3 55
4 78
5 58
6 60
7 73
8 35
9 53
10 48
n= 10 ∑ X = 550
Hence, Arithmetic mean of the data is 55

For Grouped data :
Example: Calculate the Arithmetic mean for the following data on fish length
Class
5-15 15-25 25-35 35-45 45-55
interval
Frequency 9 21 40 22 8
Solution :
Mid
Class Frequency
point fX
Interval (f)
(X )
05-15 9 10 90
15-25 21 20 420
25-35 40 30 1200
35-45 22 40 880
45-55 8 50 400
n=∑f= ∑ fx =
Total
100 2990
Hence, Arithmetic mean of the data is 29.90

Median:
• The median is defined as the middle value when
the values (observations) are arranged in the
ascending or descending order of magnitude.
Median divides the data into two equal halves,
half the number of observation lying below it and
half above it.
• The middle value in the case of a series with odd

number of items can be easily located e.g. the 6th
value if the number of items is 11. But in case the
total number is even say 10, there will be two
middle values, viz., 5th and 6th and in which case
the mean of the two middle values shall
constitute the median.
Merits of Median:
– Easy to calculate and readily understood.
– It is not at all affected by extreme values.
– Possible to calculated from a data with open end
class
– Value of median can be located graphically.
– Median can be used in further statistical
analysis.
Demerits of Median:
• In case of even number of observations, median
cannot be estimated correctly.
• It is unsuitable, if it is desired to give weightage
to large or small values.
• The median does not lend itself to algebraic
treatment in so satisfactory manner as arithmetic
mean.
• Affected much by fluctuations of sampling and is
therefore, less reliable.
For ungrouped data :
• To find out the median from ungrouped data it is first
necessary to arrange the values in the ascending or
descending order of magnitude, with serial numbers1, 2,
………. n, where n stands for the total number of observations
in the given data.
• If n is an odd number, then the median is the value
corresponding to the serial number (n+1)/2.
• If n is even number then median is taken as the arithmetic
mean of the two middle values, i.e. the mean of the values of
corresponding the serial number n/2 and (n/2) + 1
Example: Calculate the median for the following data.
10, 18, 17, 19, 10, 15, 11, 17, 12.
Solution :
Arrange the data either in ascending or descending order
X Data arranged in
Sr. No.
ascending order
1 10
2 10
3 11
4 12
5 15
6 17
7 17
8 18
9 19
n=9
Median = Size of (n+1)/2 th item

Median = Size of (9+1)/2 th item
Median = Size of 10/2 th item
Median = Size of 5th item = 15

Example 4.Calculate the median for the following
data.
22, 12, 16, 32, 18, 26, 20, 9
Solution :
Arrange the data either in ascending or descending
order
X Data arranged
Sr.
in ascending
No.
order
1 9
2 12
3 16
4 18
5 20
6 22
7 26
8 32
n=8
Median = Mean of Size of n/2 th item and (n/2) + 1th item
Median =
Median =
Median =
Median =
Median =
Mode:
• The mode is defined as the most frequently

occurring value. It is an actual value, which has the
highest concentration of items in and around it.
• The mode may not exist and even if it exists it may

not be unique as there may be more than one
mode. A distribution having only one mode is
called unimodal, whereas the distribution having
two modes is called bimodal and the distribution
having more than two modes is called multimodal.
Merits of Mode:
• Mode is readily comprehensible and easily

calculated.
• Mode is not at all affected by extreme values.
• Mode can be conveniently located even if
frequently distributed has unequal class interval
and open end class
Demerits of Mode:
• It is not based on all observation.

• It is not capable of further mathematical
treatment.
• As compared to mean mode is affected to a great
extent by sampling fluctuations.
Example: Find the modal value for the following data on fish length (cm).
32, 40, 22, 27, 19, 32, 38, 32, 30.
Solution: Arrange the data in ascending order the following array is

obtained
X Data arranged in
Sr. No.
ascending order
1 19
2 22
3 27
4 30
5 32
6 32
7 32
8 40
Here 32 occur 3 times and the remaining observations occur less than 3
times.
Hence, 32 is the mode

Important Measures of Central Tendency

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Important Measures of

• This single figure is called an average.

• The measure of central tendency is typical value

• There are three most commonly used measures

The arithmetic average or mean (x) is obtained

• If number of observations and their arithmetic

• If the observation equal to the mean is excluded

• If wrong figure is taken in the computation of

• If each of the values of a variate x is multiplied by

• It is easy to understand and easy to calculate.

• It takes all values in consideration, it is

• If numbers of items are sufficiently large, it is

• It can be calculated if total and numbers of

• It cannot be obtained by inspection nor located

• It cannot be used for qualitative data.

• It is affected very much by extreme values.

• It cannot be calculated if extreme classes are

Hence, Arithmetic mean of the data is 55

Hence, Arithmetic mean of the data is 29.90

• The middle value in the case of a series with odd

Median = Size of (n+1)/2 th item

Median = Size of 5th item = 15

• The mode is defined as the most frequently

• The mode may not exist and even if it exists it may

• Mode is readily comprehensible and easily

• It is not based on all observation.

Solution: Arrange the data in ascending order the following array is

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