Measures of Central

Tendency:
Mean, Median, Mode

Dr.Syed Adnan Ali

Visiting Faculty
Biostatistics
University of Karachi
[email protected]
 Measures of Central
Tendency
 Measure of central tendency provides a very
convenient way of describing a set of scores
with a single number that describes the
PERFORMANCE of the group.
 It is also defined as a single value that is
used to describe the “center” of the data.

 There are three commonly used measures

of central tendency. These are the
following:
 MEAN

 MEDIAN

 MODE
 MEAN
 It is the most commonly used measure of the
center of data
 It is also referred as the “arithmetic
average”
 Computation of Sample Mean
_
X = Σ x = x1 + x2 + x3 + … xn
̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅
N N
 Computation of the Mean for Ungrouped
and
_ Grouped Data
_
X = Σx X = Σfx
̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅
n f
 MEAN
Example:
Scores of 15 students in Mathematics quiz
consist of 25 items. The highest score is 25
and the lowest score is 10. Here are the
scores: 25, 20, 18, 18, 17, 15, 15, 15, 14, 14,
13, 12, 12, 10, 10. Find the mean in the
following scores._
x (scores)
25 14 X = Σx
20 14 ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅
n
18 13
18 12 = 228
17 12
̅ ̅ ̅ ̅
15 10 15
15 10
15 = 15.2
 MEAN
_
X = 15.2

Analysis:
The average performance of 15
students who participated in
mathematics quiz consisting of 25
items is 15.20. The implication of
this is that student who got scores
below 15.2 did not perform well in
the said examination. Students who
got scores higher than 15.2
performed well in the examination
compared to the performance of
 MEAN
Mean for Grouped Data

Grouped data are the data or scores that are

arranged in a frequency distribution.

Frequency distribution is the arrangement

of scores according to category of classes
including the frequency.

quency is the number of observations falling in a categ

 MEAN
The only one formula in solving the mean for
grouped data is called midpoint method. The
formula is:
_
X = Σfx
̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅ ̅
∑f

_
Where X = mean value
x = midpoint of each class or category
f = frequency in each class or category
Σ f x = summation of the product of f xm
 MEAN
Steps in Solving Mean for Grouped Data

1. Find the midpoint or class mark (Xm) of each class or

category
using the formula Xm = UL + LL .
2. Multiply the frequency and the2 corresponding
class mark f xm.
3. Find the sum of the results in step 2.

4. Solve the mean using the formula

_
X = ∑fx / ∑f
 MEAN
Example:
Scores of 40 students in a science class consist of 60
items and they are tabulated below, compute the
mean score.
X f
10 – 14 5
15 – 19 2
20 – 24 3
25 – 29 5
30 – 34 2
35 – 39 9
40 – 44 6
45 – 49 3
50 - 54 5
f = 40
 MEAN
Example:
Scores of 40 students in a science class consist of 60
items and they are tabulated below.
_
X f X fX
X = Σfx
10 – 14 5 12 60
n
15 – 19 2 17 34
20 – 24 3 22 66
= 1 345
25 – 29 5 27 135
40
30 – 34 2 32 64
35 – 39 9 37 333 = 33.63
40 – 44 6 42 252
45 – 49 3 47 141
50 - 54 5 52 260
f = 40 Σ f X = 1 345
 MEAN

Analysis:

The mean performance of 40 students

in science quiz is 33.63. Those
students who got scores below 33.63
did not perform well in the said
examination while those students
who got scores above 33.63
performed well.
 MEAN
Properties of the Mean
• It measures stability. Mean is the most stable
among other measures of central tendency
because every score contributes to the value of
the mean.
• The sum of each score’s distance from the
mean is zero.
• It may easily affected by the extreme scores.

• It can be applied to interval level of

measurement.
• It may not be an actual score in the distribution.

• It is very easy to compute.

For Practice: Problem 1

Find the
Mean of
given data
and
comment
on your
findings
For Practice: Problem 2

Find the
Mean of
given data
and
comment
on your
findings
 MEDIAN

• Median is what divides the scores in

the distribution into two equal parts.

• Fifty percent (50%) lies below

the median value and 50% lies
above the median value.

• It is also known as the middle score

or the 50th percentile.
 MEDIAN
Median of Ungrouped Data
1. Arrange the scores (from lowest to highest or
highest to lowest).
2. Determine the middle most score in a
distribution if n is an odd number and get
the average of the two middle most scores if
n is an even number.
Example 1: Find the median score of 7 students in an
English class.
x (score)
19
17
16
15
10
5
 MEDIAN
Example: Find the median score of 8 students in
an English class.
x (score)
30
19
17
16
15
10
5
2

x̃ = 16 +
15
2
x̃ = 15.5
 MEDIAN
Median of Grouped Data

Formula:
n_
x̃ = LB + _2 ̅ cfp_ X c.i
fm

X̃ = median value
_n_
MC = median class is a category containing the
2
LB = lower boundary of the median class (MC)
cfp = cumulative frequency before the median
class if the
scores are arranged from lowest to
highest value
 MEDIAN
Steps in Solving Median for Grouped Data

1. Complete the table for cf<.

_n_
2. Get 2 of the scores in the distribution
so that you can identify MC.

3. Determine LB, cfp, fm, and c.i.

4. Solve the median using the formula.

 MEDIAN
Example: Scores of 40 students in a science class
consist of 60 items and they are tabulated below.
The highest score is 54 and the lowest score is 10.

X f
10 – 14 5
15 – 19 2
20 – 24 3
25 – 29 5
30 – 34 2
35 – 39 9
40 – 44 6
45 – 49 3
50 – 54 5
n = 40
 MEDIAN
Example: Scores of 40 students in a science class
consist of 60 items and they are tabulated below.
The highest score is 54 and the lowest score is 10.

X f cf<
10 – 14 5 5
15 – 19 2 7
20 – 24 3 10
25 – 29 5 15
30 – 34 2 17 (cfp)
35 – 39 9 (fm) 26
40 – 44 6 32
45 – 49 3 35
50 – 54 5 40
n = 40
 MEDIAN
Solution:
_n_ _40_
2 = 2 = 20 _n_
The category containing 2 is 35 – 39.
LL of the MC = 35
Ln = 34.5
cfp = 17
fm = 9
c.i = 5
_n_
x̃ = LB + _2 ̅ cfp_ X c.i
fm
_20 – 17_ X 5
= 34.5 + 9
= 34.5 + 15/9
x̃ = 36.17
 MEDIAN
Properties of the Median

• It may not be an actual observation in the data

set.
• It can be applied in ordinal level.

• It is not affected by extreme values because

median is a positional measure.

When to Use the Median

• The exact midpoint of the score distribution is
desired.
• There are extreme scores in the distribution.
For Practice: Problem 3

Find the
Median of
given data
and comment
on your
findings
For Practice: Problem 4
Find the
Median of
given data
and
comment
on your
findings
 MODE
The mode or the modal score is a score or scores
that occurred most in the distribution.

It is classified as unimodal, bimodal, trimodal or

mulitimodal.
Unimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of
only one mode.

Bimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of two

modes.
Trimodal is a distribution of scores that consists of three
modes or multimodal is a distribution of scores that
consists of more than two modes.
 MODE
Example: Scores of 10 students in Section A, Section B
and Section C.

Scores of Scores of Scores of

Section A Section B Section C
25 25 25
24 24 25
24 24 25
20 20 22
20 18 21
20 18 21
16 17 21
12 10 18
10 9 18
7 7 18
 MODE
The score that appeared most in Section A is 20,
hence, the mode of Section A is 20. There is
only one mode, therefore, score distribution is
called unimodal.

The modes of Section B are 18 and 24, since both

18 and 24 appeared twice. There are two
modes in Section B, hence, the distribution is a
bimodal distribution.

The modes for Section C are 18, 21, and 25. There
are three modes for Section C, therefore, it is
called a trimodal or multimodal distribution.
 MODE
Mode for Grouped Data

In solving the mode value in grouped data, use the

formula:
___d1___
X̂ = LB + d1 + d2 x c.i
LB = lower boundary of the modal class
Modal Class (MC) = is a category containing the
highest frequency
d1 = difference between the frequency of the modal
class and the
frequency above it, when the scores are
arranged from lowest
to highest.
d2 = difference between the frequency of the modal class and
the
 MODE
Example: Scores of 40 students in a science class
consist of 60 items and they are tabulated below.

x f
10 – 14 5
15 – 19 2
20 – 24 3
25 – 29 5
30 – 34 2
35 – 39 9
40 – 44 6
45 – 49 3
50 – 54 5
n = 40
 MODE
Modal Class = 35 – 39
LL of MC = 35
LB = 34.5
d1 = 9 – 2 = 7
d2 = 9 – 6 = 3
c.i = 5
___d1___
X̂ = LB + d1 + d2 x c.i
___7___
= 34.5 + 7+3 x 5
= 34. 5 + 35/10
X̂ = 38

The mode of the score distribution that consists of 40

students
is 38, because 38 occurred several times.
 MODE
Properties of the Mode

• It can be used when the data are qualitative as well

as quantitative.
• It may not be unique.

• It is affected by extreme values.

• It may not exist.

When to Use the Mode

• When the “typical” value is desired.

• When the data set is measured on a nominal scale.

For Practice: Problem 5

Find the
Mode of
given data
and
comment
on your
findings
For Practice: Problem 6
Find the
Mode of
given data
and
comment
on your
findings
Lab 3:
Lab 4: Find Mean, Median and Mode,, also
comment on your findings