Lecture 3

Section:2.3(P.65) Measures of Central Tendency

WHAT YOU SHOULD LEARN
➢ How to find the mean, median, and mode of a population
and of a sample.

➢ How to find a weighted mean of a data set and the mean

of a frequency distribution.

➢ How to describe the shape of a distribution as symmetric,

uniform, or skewed and how to compare the mean and
median for each.
 Measure of Central Tendency(p.65)

A Measure of Central Tendency is a value that

represents a typical, or central, entry of data set.
The three most commonly used of central
tendency are:
➢ Mean
➢ Median
➢ Mode
 Data

Quantitative Qualitative

Data Set
(Ungrouped Data) Grouped Data
The Mean of Ungrouped Data (p.65):

x1 , x2 ,..., xn
➢The lowercase Greek letter 𝜇 (pronounced mu)
represents the population mean.

➢ 𝑥ҧ (read as “x bar”) represents the sample mean.

➢ Note that N represents the number of entries in a

population and n represents the number of entries in a
sample.

➢ Recall that the uppercase Greek letter sigma (∑)

indicates a summation of values.
Finding a sample mean of finite
population:
Example (1) (p.65) :
The prices (in dollars) for a sample of round-trip flights
from Chicago, Illinois to Cancun, Mexico are listed. What
is the mean price of the flights?
872 432 397 427 388 782 397

σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖
𝑥lj =
𝑛

So, the mean price of the flights is,,,,,,,.

Finding a sample mean of finite population:

Try it Yourself (1) (p.65) :

The heights (in inches) of the players on the 2009–2010
Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team are listed. What is the
mean height
a. Find the sum of the data entries.
b. Divide the sum by the number of data entries.
c. Interpret the results in the context of the data.

74 78 81 87 81 80 77 80
85 78 80 83 75 81 73
The mean of grouped data (P.70)
If data are presented in a frequency distribution, you can
approximate the mean as follows.

The mean of a frequency distribution for a sample is

approximated by
x1 f1 + x2 f 2 + ... + xn f n
x=
f1 + f 2 + ... + f n
n n

x = i =1
xi f i
x i fi
x = i =1
k

 fi
i =1 n

Where x1 , x2 ,..., xn are the midpoints and f1 , f 2 ,..., f n are

the frequencies of a class.
Example (2)
The Mean of a Frequency Distribution
Find the mean of student’s age of the given data
frequency
Class True midpoints
xi fi
intervals fi classes xi

8.5-10.5
The mean of student’s age is :
k
 xi f i
i =1
x =
n
G U I D E L I N E S (p.g. 70)
Finding the Mean of a Frequency Distribution:
1) Find the midpoint of each class.
2) Find the sum of the products of the midpoints
and the frequencies.
3) Find the sum of the frequencies.
4) Find the mean of the frequency distribution.
Finding the mean of grouped Data
Example (8) (p.70):
Use the frequency distribution to approximate the mean
number of minutes that a sample of Internet subscribers
spent online during their most recent session.
Class midpoint, x Frequency, f
12.5 6
24.5 10
36.5 13
48.5 8
60.5 5
72.5 6
84.5 2
 Second:
The Weighted Mean
The Weighted Mean(P.69)

is the mean of a data set x1 , x2 ,..., xn whose entries

have varying weights w1 , w2 ,..., wn
A weighted mean is given by:
x1w1 + x2 w2 + ... + xn wn
xw =
w1 + w2 + ... + wn
n

x w i i
xw = i =1
n

w
i =1
i
Example (7)(p.69):
You are taking a class in which your grade is determined from five sources: 50% from your test
mean, 15% from your midterm, 20% from your final exam, 10% from your computer lab work,
and 5% from your homework. Your scores are 86 (test mean), 96 (midterm), 82 (final exam), 98
(computer lab), and 100 (homework). What is the weighted mean of your scores? If the minimum
average for an A is 90,did you get an A?

x w i i
xw = i =1
n

w
i =1
i
 Third:
The median
 The median

Definition. P(66)
The median of a data set is the value that lies in
the middle of the data when the data set is
ordered.
 The median of a data set

Data

Odd number Even number

The median is the mean

The median is the
Of the two middle data
Middle data entry
entries
Example (2) (p.66) :
Find the median of the flight prices given in
Example 1:

First order the data

388 397 397 427 432 782 872
Example (3) (p.66) :
In Example 2 (p.66), the flight priced at $432 is
no longer available. What is the median price of
the remaining flights?

The remaining prices in order are

388,397,397, 427,782, 872

Finding the median:

Try it Yourself (3) (p.66) :

The prices (in dollars) of a sample of digital photo frames are listed.
Find the median price of the digital photo frames.
a. Order the data entries.
b. Find the mean of the two middle data entries.
c. Interpret the results in the context of the data.

25 100 130 60 140 200 220 80 250 97

Fourth:
The mode
 The mode

Definition P(67):

The mode of a data set is the data entry that

occurs with the greatest frequency.
Set of data may have: 6

• one mode 3

• more than one mode. 0

-1
0 1 2 3

Example:
In special case: If two entries occur with the same greatest
frequency, each entry is a mode and the data set is called (bimodal).
6

• no mode -1
0
0 1 2 3

If no entry is repeated, the data set has no mode.

Finding the mode of a data set

Example (4) (p.67)

Find the mode of the flight prices given in
Example 1.

388 397 397 427 432 782 872

Example
Find the mode of the given data:
2,6,9,4,6,10,6
Example
Find the mode of the given data:
4,2,7,4,7,10,7
Example
Find the mode of the given data:
4, 7, 4, 7, 8, 9, 7, 4, 10
Example
Find the mode of the given data:
4, 9, 8, 12, 11, 7, 15
Example
Find the mode of the given data:
4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7
 Example (5) (p.67) :
Finding the Mode
At a political debate, a sample of audience members were asked to
name the political party to which they belonged. Their responses are
shown in the table.

What is the mode of the responses?

THE SHAPES OF
DISTRIBUTIONS
 6
symmetric
5

0
0 1 2 3
Mode =Mean= Median
10 10
9 Skewed left 9 Skewed right
8 8
7
7
6
6
5
5 4
4 3
3 2
2 1
0
1

Mode
Median
Mean
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
0
Mean
Median
Mode

0 0.5 1 1.5 2
 Definition (p.71)(THE SHAPES OF DISTRIBUTIONS)
A frequency distribution is symmetric when a vertical line can
be drawn through the middle of a graph of the distribution and
the resulting halves
are approximately mirror images.

A frequency distribution is uniform (or rectangular) when all

entries, or classes, in the distribution have equal or
approximately equal frequencies.
A uniform distribution is also symmetric.

A frequency distribution is skewed if the “tail” of the graph

elongates more to one side than to the other.

A distribution is skewed left (negatively skewed) if its tail

extends to the left.

A distribution is skewed right (positively skewed) if its tail

extends to the right.
Remarks p 67-68:
1) The mode is the only measure of central tendency that can
be used to describe data at the nominal level of
measurement.
2) The mode is rarely used when working with quantitative
data.
3) The mean is a reliable measure because it takes into account
every entry of a data set.
4) The mean can be greatly affected when the data set contains
outliers.

Example:
The mean of the data1,2,3,3,2,2,3,100 is 14.5
Definition (p.68):
An outlier is a data entry that is far removed from
the other entries in the data set.
Example (6)(P.68)
Find the mean, the median, and the mode of the sample
ages of students in a class shown below. Which measure
of central tendency best describes a typical entry of this
data set? Are there any outliers?

20 20 20 20 20 20 21
21 21 21 22 22 22 23
23 23 23 24 24 65
7

0
15 20 21 22 24 23 65
Example
1. Find the mean, median, and mode of these data, if
possible. If not explain why?
2. Determine which measure of central tendency is the
best to represent the data

6, 6, 9, 9, 6, 5, 5, 5, 7, 5, 5, 5, 8
77

66

55

44

33

22

11

00
44 55 66 77 88 99
Example
1. Find the mean, median, and mode of this data, if
possible. If not explain why?
2. Determine which measure of central tendency is the
best to represent the data
The responses by a sample of 1040 people who were
asked if their next vehicle purchase will be foreign or
domestic
Domestic : 346
foreign : 450
Don’t know : 244
Example (32)(p.74)
1. Find the mean, median, and mode of this data,
if possible. If not explain why?
2. Determine which measure of central tendency
is the best to represent the data
Example (35)(p74):
The letters A,B, and C are marked on the horizontal
axis. Determine which is the mean, median , and the
mode. Justify your answer.
 Homework

➢ Exercises (1,2,3,4) page 72.

➢ Exercises (9,10,11,12) page 72.
➢ Exercises (17,18,19,20,21,22) page 73.
➢ Exercises (31,32,35,36) page 74.
➢ Exercises (51,54) pages 76-77.