Measures of

Central Tendency
Chapter 4

Homework: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 13
Ignore parts with eye-ball estimation
 3 essential characteristics
of distributions
 Conveys most info for most distributions

1. Where is middle of distribution?

2. How wide is distribution?

3. What is shape of the distribution? ~

 Central Tendency
 Middle of distribution
 measures: mode, median, mean

 Portable & compact communication

 further simplification of data

 lose more detail

 Which most appropriate?

 Depends on level of measurement

 intent of your communication ~

 Mode
 Most frequently occurring value
 appropriate for any measurement

level
nominal, ordinal, interval/ratio ~
 Computing the Mode
 Frequency distribution
 most frequently occurring value

 Grouped frequency distribution

 find interval with highest frequency

 report midpoint

e.g., interval: 150 to 160

report: (160 + 150)/2 = 155
 Methods may produce different
results ~
 Computing the Mode
Frequency Distribution mode = 11
X f
19 1
18 2 Grouped
16 3 Frequency mode =
15 3 Distribution
14 5
13 2 X f
12 6 19-20 1
11 7 17-18 2
10 3 15-16 6
9 6 13-14 7
8 5 11-12 13
7 3 9-10 9
6 2 7- 8 8
5 2 5- 6 4
50 50
 Grouped X f
Frequency 81-100 1
61-80 3
Distribution 41-60 4
21-40 9
1-20 2
mode =
 Median
 Midpoint of a data set
 values ½ smaller, ½ larger

 appropriate for ordinal & interval/ratio

NOT nominal ~
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10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Average Daily Temperature (oF)

 Finding the Median
1. List all values from largest---> smallest
if f=3, then list 3 times

2. Odd # entries median = middle value

middle = (n + 1)/2

3. Even # entries = half way b/n middle 2

values ~
 Finding the Median: odd # f
X f 9
9 2 9
7 1 7
5 3 5
3 3 5
1 2 5
11 3
3
3
(n + 1)/2 = 1
1
 Finding the Median: even # f
X f 9
9 2 9
7 1 7
5 3 5
3 3 5
1 3 5
12 3
3
Average middle 2 values 3
median =
1
n /2 =
1
(n /2) + 1 = 1
 Mean
 Average
 value on X-axis

 may not be actual value in data set

 Computing the mean

Sample mean X 
 X
n

Population mean   X
N
 Reporting Central Tendency
 Depends on level of measurement
 Nominal: mode only appropriate
 Ordinal: mode & median
 not mean ---> uneven intervals

 Interval/ratio: all 3 appropriate ~

 Comparing the Measures
 Normal distribution
 all 3 coincide

 Skewed will not be same values

 greatest effect of mean

less on median, least on mode

 positive: mode -->median-->mean
 negative: mean <--median<--mode
 mean
median
mode

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

median median

mean mode mode mean

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90