BUSINESS

STATISTICS
CHAPTER 2
CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
 Some key terms
• Raw data: it is the collected data which have not been organized numerically.
• Arrays: An array is the arrangement of raw numerical data in ascending or
descending order of magnitude.
• Variable: A variable is any quantity or attribute whose value varies from one unit
to another. A variable may be classified as;
• i. Continuous Variable – A variable which takes all values within a given range
• ii. Discrete Variable – A variable whose values are countable.
• Frequency: It is the number of occurrence of a given value or group.
• Frequency Distribution: A tabular arrangement of data by classes together with
the corresponding class frequencies is called a frequency distribution (table). It
may be:
i. Ungrouped
ii. Grouped or
iii. Categorical
Ungrouped Frequency Distribution

• This is the set of possible values of the variable (discrete) together

with the associated frequencies.
• When solving ungrouped frequency distribution questions, the
following steps are used.
i. List all values of the variable in ascending order of magnitude,
ii. Form a tally column
iii. Sum the tallies to obtain the frequencies of each variable. The
frequencies sum up to the total number of observations.
Ungrouped Frequency Distribution cont’d

• Example.
The following is a record of number of
absentees per day from a factory over 21 days.
3 1 2 4 1
4 4
2 0 3 1 2
1 0
2 1 1 1 0
0 4
SOLUTION
NO. OF TALLY NO. OF DAYS.
ABSENTEES (FREQUENCY)

0 //// 4
1 //// // 7
2 //// 4
3 // 2
4 //// 4

TOTAL 21
Grouped Frequency Distribution
This is a set of class intervals for the variable (continuous) together
with the associated frequencies.
• Class interval: It is a subdivision of the total range of values a
variable (i.e. continuous) may take. The groups into which the
values are put are called “classes” e.g. 41 – 49 or 50 – 59
• Class limits: These are end points of the class interval. The end
numbers 41 and 50 are called the lower class limit and the
numbers 49 and 59 are called the upper class limits.
• Class Frequency: It is the number of variables which fall in a given
interval.
 Grouped Frequency Distribution cont’d

• Class Boundary: These are the lower and the upper values of a class
that mark common points between classes.

To find the class boundaries, we subtract the upper class limit of the first
class from the lower class limit of the second class (i.e.50 – 49 = 1)
Then we divide the result by 2, (i.e. 1/2 = 0.5).
We then subtract 0.5 from all the lower class limits and add 0.5 to all the
upper class limits to obtain the lower class boundaries and the upper
class boundaries respectively.
Hence, simply, it is the dividing line between any two successive classes.
Thus the class boundary for the class 41 – 49 is given as 40.5 – 49.5.
 Grouped Frequency Distribution cont’d

• Class Size: This is the difference between the upper and lower class
boundaries of a class interval.
Class Size = Upper class boundary - lower class boundary
For example the class size or width for the class 41 – 49 is given as 49.5
– 40.5 = 9

• Class Mark (Class Midpoint): It is obtained by adding the lower and

upper class limits and dividing the result by 2. It can also be obtained
by adding the lower and upper class boundaries of a class and dividing
the result by 2. It is the midpoint of a class interval.
Class mark = (Lower class limit+ Upper class limit) / 2
Example
The following are the marks obtained by 20 students in
an examination:
60 45 72 55 42 65 54 68 74 50
70 58 48 35 64 51 52 60 58 75

Draw a “simple” grouped frequency distribution table.

Solution
CLASS LIMITS TALLY FREQUENCY

32 – 40 / 1
41 – 49 /// 3
50 – 58 //// // 7
59 – 67 //// 4
68 – 76 ///// 5

Total 20
 Grouped Frequency Distribution steps
• Find the highest and lowest values.
• Find the range (highest value – lowest value)
• Select the number of classes desired.
(Sturge’s rule = 1+3.322((n))
(where “n” stands for the number of data values)
• Find the width by dividing the range by the number of classes and rounding
up.
• Select a starting point (usually the lowest value); add the width to get the
lower limits.
• Find the upper class limits.
• Find the boundaries.
• Tally the data, find the frequencies, and find the cumulative frequency.
EXAMPLE 2.3
Construct a frequency distribution of the data below
1 2 6 7 12
2 6 9 5 13
18 7 3 15 15
17 1 14 5 4
4 16 4 5 8
5 18 5 2 6
9 11 12 1 9
10 11 4 10 2
9 18 8 8 4
7 3 2 6 14
SOLUTION
CLASS LIMIT TALLY CLASS FREQUENCY
BOUNDARY
1–3 //// //// 0.5 – 3.5 10
4–6 //// //// //// 3.5 – 6.5 14
7–9 //// //// 6.5 – 9.5 10
10 – 12 //// / 9.5 – 12.5 6
13 – 15 //// 12.5 – 15.5 5
16- 18 //// 15.5 – 18.5 5

TOTAL 50
 Categorical Frequency Distribution
The categorical frequency distribution is used for data that can be placed in specific
categories, such as nominal or ordinal level data. For example data such as political
affiliation, religious affiliation or major field of study, etc., could be put in a categorical
frequency distribution.
Example
Twenty-five army inductees were given a blood test to determine their blood type. The data
set is as follows:
A B B AB O
O O B AB B
B B O A O
A O O O AB
AB A O B A
Construct a frequency distribution for the data.
Solution
CLASS TALLY FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
(f/n)
A //// 5 20
B //// // 7 28
O //// //// 9 36
AB //// 4 16

TOTAL 25 100
Example
The area of specialization of some selected students from KNUST School of
Business are given as follows:
HTM ACF ACF HTM LSCM ACF
LSCM LSCM ACF MIB ACF LSCM
ACF ACF LSCM HTM LSCM HTM
HTM LSCM LSCM ACF MIB MIB
MIB HTM LSCM ACF HTM HTM

Construct a categorical frequency distribution for this data.

 Example 2.5
These data represent the record of high temperatures for each of the 50 states.
Construct a frequency distribution for the data using 7 classes.
112 100 127 120 134
118 105 110 109 112
110 118 117 116 118
122 114 114 105 109
107 112 114 115 118
117 118 122 106 110
116 108 110 121 113
120 119 111 104 111
120 115 120 117 105
116 118 112 114 114
Solution
CLASS CLASS TALLY FREQUENCY LESS THAN
LIMITS BOUNDARIES CUMULATIVE
FREQUENCY

100 – 104 99.5 – 104.5 // 2 2

105 – 109 104.5 – 109.5 //// // 8 10
110 – 114 109.5 – 114.5 //// //// //// /// 18 28
115 – 119 114.5 – 119.5 //// //// /// 13 41
120 – 124 119.5 – 124.5 //// // 7 48
125 – 129 124.5 – 129.5 / 1 49
130 - 134 129.5 – 134.5 / 1 50
 Graphical Representation
The information provided by a frequency distribution
in tabular form may be presented graphically by:
• Histogram
• Frequency Polygon
• Cumulative Frequency curve
 Histogram
It contains rectangles having
• Bases on a horizontal axis, centres at the class marks
and lengths equal to the class interval sizes
• Areas proportional to class frequencies
EXAMPLE 2.6
• Draw a histogram for the following data:
CLASS INTERVAL 10 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 – 59

FREQUENCY 2 4 6 2 1

CLASS INTERVAL CLASS BOUNDARY FREQUENCY

10 – 19 9.5 – 19.5 2
20 – 29 19.5 – 29.5 4
30 – 39 29.5 – 39.5 6
40 – 49 39.5 – 49.5 2
50 – 59 49.5 – 59.5 1
 Trial example
• The number of absent days of a group of employees in 2020 is
presented in the table below. Construct a histogram for this data.

Number of days 1-4 5-9 10 - 14 15 - 19 20 – 24

Frequency 15 7 12 5 9
 Frequency Polygon
This is a line graph of class frequency against the midpoints. It can be
obtained by connected midpoints of the tops of the rectangles in the
histogram.
To complete the polygon, the midpoints at each end are joined to the
immediate lower or higher midpoints at zero frequency.
• Draw a histogram and a frequency polygon for the following data:

AGE (midpoint) 1 2 3 4 5
FREQUENCY 2 4 2 5 1
SOLUTION
CLASS MID-POINT CLASS BOUNDARY FREQUENCY
1 0.5 – 1.5 2
2 1.5 – 2.5 4
3 2.5 – 3.5 2
4 3.5 – 4.5 5
5 4.5 – 5.5 1
 Cumulative Frequency Curve
• The cumulative frequency corresponding to a class is the sum of
frequencies of that class and of all classes preceding that class.
• A table showing cumulative frequency is called the cumulative frequency
table
• A graph of cumulative frequency against the corresponding variable is
called the cumulative frequency curve or Ogive.
• Unless otherwise stated a question will normally refer to the less than
Ogive.
• Less than ogives are drawn using the higher class boundaries
• More than ogives are drawn using the lower class boundaries
Example
• Draw the ogives for the following distribution of marks
obtained by 59 students:

MARKS 0 - 10 10 - 20 20 - 30 30 - 40 40 - 50 50 - 60 60 – 70

FREQ. 4 8 11 15 12 6 3
Solution
MARKS FREQUENCY LESS THAN MORE THAN
CUMULATIVE CUMULATIVE
FREQUENCY FREQUENCY

0 – 10 4 4 59
10 – 20 8 12 55
20 – 30 11 23 47
30 – 40 15 38 36
40 – 50 12 50 21
50 – 60 6 56 9
60 – 70 3 59 3
Exploratory Data Analysis – The Stem And Leaf Display

The techniques of exploratory data analysis consist of simple arithmetic

and easy-to-draw graphs that can be used to summarize data quickly. One
technique – referred to as a stem-and-leaf display – can be used to show
both the rank order and shape of a data set simultaneously.
To develop a stem-and-leaf display,
1. we first arrange the leading digits of each data value to the left of a
vertical line.
2. To the right of the vertical line, we record the last digit for each data
value as we pass through the observations in the order they were
recorded.
3. The last digit for each data value is placed on the line corresponding to
its first digit.
EXAMPLE
• TABLE: NUMBER OF QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY ON AN APTITUDE
TEST
112 72 69 97 107
73 92 76 86 73
126 128 118 127 124
82 104 132 134 83
92 108 96 100 92
115 76 91 102 81
95 141 81 80 106
84 119 113 98 75
68 98 115 106 95
100 85 94 106 119
 Solution
Leaf unit = 1
6 89
7 233568
8 01123456
9 12224556788
10 002466678
11 2355899
12 4678
13 24
14 1
Example
Consider the following data on the number of hamburgers sold
by a fast-food restaurant for each of 15 weeks:
1565 1852 1644 1766 1888 1912
2044 1812 1790 1679 2008 1852
1967 1954 1733
Solution
Leaf unit = 10
15 6
16 4 7
17 3 6 9
18 1 5 5 8
19 1 5 6
20 0 4