Chapter Five: MEASURES OF

CENTRAL TENDENCY
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

• A data set can be summarized into a single

value, usually lies somewhere in the center
and represent the whole data set. Such a single
value that represent the central part of a data
set is called central value. Tendency of
observations that cluster in the central part of
the data set is called central tendency. Most
commonly used measures of central tendency
are given in the following diagram:
 CONT’S

Measures of
Central
Tendency

Arithmetic Harmonic Geometric

Median Mode
Mean Mean Mean
 Arithmetic Mean

• Simply it is called mean or average and mostly

used measure of central tendency in every
field of research. “Arithmetic mean is a value
obtained by dividing the sum of all
observations in a data set by the number of
observations”.

Sum of all observations

Mean =
Total number of observations
 Mathematical Description of Arithmetic Mean

• Mathematically, Arithmetic mean is expressed

as: N

x  x2    x N x i
 = 1 = i 1
[Population data]
N N
n

x1  x2    xn  xi
X = = i 1 [Sample data]
n n
Example: The following data shows the consumption (in thousand of AF.) of 9 MBA
students per semester in a certain University, compute arithmetic mean and interpret the
result. The data is: 39, 36, 48, 36, 41, 37, 32, 46 and 45.
n

x i
39  36  48  36  41  37  32  46  45 360
X = i1
  40
n 9 9
It indicates that on the average, each MBA student is consuming AF.40,000
per semester
 Arithmetic Mean for Grouped Data

• Mathematically, Arithmetic mean for grouped

data (frequency distribution ) is expressed as:
f1 x1  f 2 x2    f n xn
X =
f1  f 2    f n
n

fx i i
= i 1

f i
i

  fx
, where  f n (total number of observations)
f
where, f1 , f 2 , , f n are corresponding frequencies
of x1 , x2 , , xn
 CONT’S
• Example: Consider the following frequency
distribution of the salaries of 50 employees of
a certain University , compute arithmetic
mean.
Salary(000) X 40 50 60 70 80 90 Total
Number of 20 10 8 5 4 3 50
employees
[f]
fx 800 500 480 350 320 270 2720
n

fx i i 2720
X = i 1
 54.4
f i
50
It shows that each employee of the University has 54.4 (thousand) salary, on the average.
 Numerical Example (Mean)

• Using the following data showing the weights (in grams) of 60 apples,
calculate the mean (average weight).
Weight 65-84 85-104 105-124 125-144 145-164 165-184 185-204 Total

Number 9 10 17 10 5 4 5 60
of apples

To compute the mean, first we convert the class intervals into mid points (X)
Weight 65-84 85-104 105-124 125-144 145-164 165-184 185-204 Total
Number of 9 10 17 10 5 4 5 60
apples (f)
Mid point 74.5 94.5 114.5 134.5 154.5 174.5 194.5
(X)
fx 670.5 945 1946.5 1345 772.5 698 972.5 7350

fx i i
7350
X = i 1
 122.5
f i 60
Properties of Arithmetic Mean
 Definition Geometric Mean

• Geometric mean is the n-th positive root of the product of n-positive values.
Mathematically, geometric mean is defined as:
GM is preferred
as a measure of
GM = x1 x2 ... xn = (x1 x 2 ... x n )1/ n
central tendency
OR
for rates and
 n

  log x i  (For individual series) ratio data
GM = Antilog  i1

 n 
 
 
 n

  f i log xi 
GM = Antilog  i1

 n  (For frequency distribution)
 
 

1. Geometric mean vanishes is any values of a data set/series is zero.

2. Geometric mean can not be computed if any value of a series is negative,
 Numerical Example
• Example: The following data indicate the consumption (000) of 7 different
households in a certain locality of Peshawar. Calculate Geometric mean.
2 4 7 3 9 11 12
X Log X
GM = (x1 x2 ... xn )1/ n
2 0.3010
(2 4 7 3 9 11 12)1/ 7
4 0.6021
(199584) 1/ 7
5.7169 7 0.8451
3 0.4771
9 0.9542
11 1.0414
 n 

 i 1 log xi  12 1.0792
GM = Antilog   5.3001
 n 
 
 
= Antilog (5.3001/7)
= Antilog (0.7572)
=5.7169
 Numerical Example
• Example: The following data indicate the consumption (000) of 50
different households in a certain locality of Peshawar. Calculate Geometric
mean.

 n 
 f i log xi  X f LogX fLogX
GM = Antilog  i 1  2 5 0.3010 1.5051
 n 
  4 7 0.6021 4.2144
= Antilog (34.3310/50) 7 10 0.8451 8.4510
= Antilog (0.6866) 3 15 0.4771 7.1568
=4.8595 9 7 0.9542 6.6797
11 4 1.0414 4.1656
12 2 1.0792 2.1584
50 34.3310
 Harmonic Mean

• Harmonic mean is the reciprocal of arithmetic mean and reciprocal of the

values. Mathematically, Harmonic mean is defined as:

n HM is used to
HM = n
(For individual series) average the speed
 (1/ x )
i 1
i
and ratio data.

n
HM = n (For frequency distribution)
( f
i 1
i / xi )

Note: Harmonic mean vanishes is any values of a data set/series is zero.

 Numerical Example
• Example: The following data indicate the consumption (000) of 7 different
households in a certain locality of Peshawar. Calculate Geometric mean.

2 4 7 3 9 11 12 X 1/X
2 0.5000
n 4 0.2500
HM = n

 (1/ x )
i 1
i
7 0.1429
3 0.3333
7
= 9 0.1111
(1/ 2  1/ 4  1/ 7  1/ 3  1/ 9  1/11 1/12)
11 0.0909
12 0.0833
7 /1.5115 4.6310
1.5115
 Numerical Example
Example: The following data shows the weekly consumption (000) of 50
households, calculate the Harmonic Mean
n
X f f/x HM = n

5 5 1.000 ( f
i 1
i / xi )

6 7 1.167 50 / 6.815

7 10 1.429 7.337

8 15 1.875
It indicates that on the average each household
9 7 0.778 consume Rs. 7.337 (000) per week
10 4 0.400
12 2 0.167
50 6.815
 Mode
• Mode is a value which has maximum frequency as compared to other
items of a data set. OR, the most frequent value of a data set is called
mode.
• A distribution/data set having only one mode is called uni-modal
distribution. Similarly, a distribution is defined to be bi-modal if it has two
modes. Generally, a distribution having more than one modes is called
multi-modal distribution. For example:
• a). 2, 4, 6, 4, 8, 10 (mode = 4)
• b). 2, 4, 6, 4, 8, 10, 8 (mode = 4 and 8)
• c). 2, 4, 6, 4, 8, 10, 8, 10 (mode = 4, 8 and 10 )
• If all the observations of a data set have the same frequencies (repeated the
same number of times), the data set will have no mode. For example: 2, 4,
6, 4, 8, 10, 8, 10, 6: this data set has no mode because each and every
observation is repeated the same number of times.
 Mode
Uni-modal distribution Bi-modal distribution
60 60
Number of students

Number of students
45 45

30 30

15 15

0 0
2.7 3.2 3.7 4.2 2.7 3.2 3.7 4.2
GPA GPA

60
Number of students

Tri-modal 45

distribution 30

15

0
2.7 3 3.3 3.6 3.9 4.2
GPA
 MODE FOR CONTINEOUS SERIES

( f m  f1 ) h
Mode = l +
(2 f m  f1  f 2 ) Consumption
l = lower limit of the modal group f
f m  frequency of the modal group 1
f1  frequency preceeding the modal group 4.5-9.5 0
f 2  frequency exceeding the modal group 9.5-14.5 8
h = width of class 2
14.5-19.5 0
Mode lies in the group (14.5-19.5) as it has
19.5-24.5 5
maximum frequency, so
(20  8) 5 60 24.4-29.5 4
Mode = 14.5 + 14.5  29.5-34.5 3
(2 20  8  5) 27
14.5  2.22 16.72 5
0
 Median
• Median is a value which divide and arranged data set into two equal parts
i.e. half (50%) of the observations will lies below and half (50%) will come
above that value.
• For example: what will be the median of the following data showing weekly
profit (000) of seven stores as: 10, 20, 15, 13, 14, 9 and 12.
• Arranged data (increasing order): 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
• Median = 13
• Similarly, for the data set having the size (even number) divisible by 2,
median will be the average of two middle values, for example:
• 9, 10, 12, Median
13, 14, 15, 16,
= 20 (here n = 8) so=
(13+14)/2 13.5
 Assignment
• The following data shows the frequency distribution of the salary of 50

employees of a firm. Calculate the following

1. Arithmetic mean

2. Harmonic mean

3. Geometric mean

4. Median

5. Salary
Salary(000)
(000) 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34
Number of 20 10 8 5 4 3
employees
 Median group data Example
Salary(000) Class boundary F CF

5-9 4.5-9.5 20 20
10-14 9.5-14.5 10 30
15-19 14.5-19.5 8 38
20-24 19.5-24.5 5 43
25-29 24.4-29.5 4 47
30-34 29.5-34.5 3 50
50
For median, n/2 = 50/2 = 25. It implies that median lies in the group (9.5-14.5).

h 5
Median = l  ( n / 2  c) = 9.5 + (50 / 2  20) 12
f 10