GEC3

MATHEMATICS IN THE MODERN

WORLD
CHAPTER 4: DATA MANAGEMENT
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
Any measure indicating the center of a set of data
arranged in an array is known as Measure of Central
Tendency.
Measure of Central Tendency provides a very
convenient method of describing a set of scores with a
single value that is used to describe the “center” of the data.
The most commonly used measures of central tendency are
the mean, median and mode.
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
The Mean
The mean, also known as the arithmetic
average, is found by adding the values of the data
and dividing by the total number of values.
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
Police Incidents. The number of calls that a local police department
responded to for a sample of 9 months is shown. Find the mean. (Data were
obtained by the author.)
475, 447, 440, 761, 993, 1052, 783, 671, 621
SOLUTION:

Hence, the mean number of incidents per month to which the police
responded is 693.7.
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
The Weighted Mean
The type of mean that considers an
additional factor is called the weighted mean, and it
is used when the values are not all equally
represented.
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
 MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
Grade Point Average A student received an A in English Composition I (3 credits), a C in
Introduction to Psychology (3 credits), a B in Biology I (4 credits), and a D in Physical
Education (2 credits). Assuming A 4 grade points, B 3 grade points, C 2 grade points, D
1 grade point, and F 0 grade points, find the student’s grade point average.
SOLUTION:

The grade point average is 2.7.

MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
The Median
is the midpoint of the data array. If
there are two middle values, the average is
taken. The symbol for the median is MD.
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
Police Officers Killed
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
Tornadoes in the United States
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
The Mode
The value that occurs most often in a data
set is called the mode.
A data set that has only one value that
occurs with the greatest frequency is said to be
unimodal.
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
If a data set has two values that occur with the same
greatest frequency, both values are considered to be the
mode and the data set is said to be bimodal.
If a data set has more than two values that occur with
the same greatest frequency, each value is used as the mode,
and the data set is said to be multimodal.
When no data value occurs more than once, the data
set is said to have no mode. Note: Do not say that the mode is
zero.
 MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
NFL Signing Bonuses
Find the mode of the signing bonuses of eight NFL players for a specific
year. The bonuses in millions of dollars are

SOLUTION: It is helpful to arrange the data in order, although it is not

necessary.
10, 10, 10, 11.3, 12.4, 14.0, 18.0, 34.5
Since $10 million occurred 3 times—a frequency larger than any other
number—the mode is $10 million.
 MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
Licensed Nuclear Reactors
The data show the number of licensed nuclear reactors in the United States
for a recent 15-year period. Find the mode.

SOLUTION: Since the values 104 and 109 both occur 5 times, the modes are
104 and 109. The data set is said to be bimodal.
 MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
Accidental Firearm Deaths
The number of accidental deaths due to firearms for a six-year period is
shown. Find the mode.

SOLUTION: Since each value occurs only once, there is no mode.

PROPERTIES AND USES OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY
The Mean
1. The mean is found by using all the values of the data.
2. The mean varies less than the median or mode when samples are taken
from the same population and all three measures are computed for these
samples.
3. The mean is used in computing other statistics, such as the variance.
4. The mean for the data set is unique and not necessarily one of the data
values.
5. The mean cannot be computed for the data in a frequency distribution
that has an open-ended class.
6. The mean is affected by extremely high or low values, called outliers, and
may not be the appropriate average to use in these situations.
PROPERTIES AND USES OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY
The Median
1. The median is used to find the center or middle value of a
data set.
2. The median is used when it is necessary to find out
whether the data values fall into the upper half or lower
half of the distribution.
3. The median is used for an open-ended distribution.
4. The median is affected less than the mean by extremely
high or extremely low values.
PROPERTIES AND USES OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY
The Mode
1. The mode is used when the most typical case is desired.
2. The mode is the easiest average to compute.
3. The mode can be used when the data are nominal or
categorical, such as religious preference, gender, or
political affiliation.
4. The mode is not always unique. A data set can have more
than one mode, or the mode may not exist for a data set.
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
An important characteristic of any set of data is the
variation in the data. If one wants to know the index of how
the scores are scattered around the center of the
distribution, measures of variability (spread, width, or
dispersion) must be considered. For the spread or
variability of a data set, three measures are commonly used:
range, variance, and standard deviation.
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Range
The range is the highest value minus the lowest
value. The symbol R is used for the range.
𝑅 = ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 − 𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Example 1: Two experimental brands of paint are tested to see how
long each will last before fading. Six cans of each brand constitute a
small population. The results (in months) are shown in the table. Find
the mean and range of each group.
Brand A Brand B

10 35

60 45

50 30

30 35

40 40

20 25
 MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Solution:

=  X
=
210
= 35 =  X
=
210
= 35
Brand A: N 6 Brand B: N 6
R = 60 − 10 = 50 R = 45 − 25 = 20

The average for both brands is the same, but the range for Brand A is much
greater than the range for Brand B.Which brand would you buy?
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
The range is the simplest and the easiest of the
measures of dispersion. It simply measures the distance
given by the highest score and the lowest score. It is
considered as the least satisfactory measure of dispersion
because it does not tell anything about the score between
these two extremes.
 MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Example 2
Consider the following test scores of the two girls. Compute the range &
interpret the result.
Andrea 17 18 7 15 14 13
Camille 18 10 17 11 18 10
Solution:
Andrea: HS = 18 Camille: HS = 18
LS = 7 LS = 10
R = 11 R=8
Andrea’s score has higher range than that of Camille’s test scores. This tells us
that Andrea’s score is apparently more scattered than Camille.
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Before these measures (Population Variance and
Standard Deviation) can be defined, it is necessary to know
what data variation means. It is based on the difference or
distance each data value is from the mean. This difference or
distance is called a deviation.
 MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Population Variance and Standard Deviation
 MEASURES OF DISPERSION
To find the variance and standard deviation for a data set, the following Procedure Table
can be used.
MEASURES OF DISPERSION

Rounding Rule for the Standard Deviation: The rounding rule for the
standard deviation is the same as that for the mean. The final answer
should be rounded to one more decimal place than that of the original
data.
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Comparison of Outdoor Paint Find the variance and standard
deviation for the data set for brand A paint. The number of months
brand A lasted before fading was 10, 60, 50, 30, 40, 20.
SOLUTION:
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Comparison of Outdoor Paint Find the variance and standard
deviation for brand B paint data. The months brand B lasted before
fading were 35, 45, 30, 35, 40, 25.
SOLUTION:
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Since the standard deviation of brand A is 17.1 and the
standard deviation of brand B is 6.5, the data are more
variable for brand A. In summary, when the means are equal,
the larger the variance or standard deviation is, the more
variable the data are.
 MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Sample Variance and Standard Deviation
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
Teacher Strikes The number of public school teacher strikes in
Pennsylvania for a random sample of school years is shown. Find the
sample variance and sample standard deviation.
9, 10, 14, 7, 8, 3
SOLUTION:
MEASURES OF DISPERSION

Hence, the sample

variance is 13.1, and
the sample standard
deviation is 3.6.
USES OF THE VARIANCE AND STANDARD
DEVIATION
1. As previously stated, variances and standard deviations can be used to
determine the spread of the data. If the variance or standard deviation is
large, the data are more dispersed. This information is useful in
comparing two (or more) data sets to determine which is more (most)
variable.
2. The measures of variance and standard deviation are used to determine
the consistency of a variable. For example, in the manufacture of fittings,
such as nuts and bolts, the variation in the diameters must be small, or
else the parts will not fit together.
3. The variance and standard deviation are used to determine the number
of data values that fall within a specified interval in a distribution. For
example, Chebyshev’s theorem (explained later) shows that, for any
distribution, at least 75% of the data values will fall within 2 standard
deviations of the mean.
4. Finally, the variance and standard deviation are used quite often in
inferential statistics.
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
As median divides the set of scores into two equal parts,
there are other measures that divide the distribution into one
hundred, four or ten equal parts. These are the other measures of
position: the percentiles, the quartiles and the deciles.
The median is the value that corresponds to the 50th
percentile, since one-half of the values fall below it and one-half
of the values fall above it.
If a value is located at the 80th percentile, it means that
80% of the values fall below it in the distribution and 20% of the
values fall above it.
 MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Standard Scores
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Test Scores. A student scored 65 on a calculus test that had
a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10; she scored 30
on a history test with a mean of 25 and a standard deviation
of 5. Compare her relative positions on the two tests.
SOLUTION:
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION

Since the z score for calculus is larger, her relative position

in the calculus class is higher than her relative position in
the history class.
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Test Scores. Find the z score for each test, and state which is
higher.

SOLUTION:
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION

The score for test A is relatively higher than the score for test
B.
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Percentiles
are position measures used in educational and
health-related fields to indicate the position of an individual
in a group and divide the data set into 100 equal groups.
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Test Scores. A teacher gives a 20-point test to 10 students.
The scores are shown here. Find the percentile rank of a
score of 12.
18, 15, 12, 6, 8, 2, 3, 5, 20, 10
SOLUTION:
Arrange the data in order from lowest to highest.
2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Then substitute into the formula.

Since there are six values below a score of 12, the solution is

Thus, a student whose score was 12 did better than 65% of the class.
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Test Scores. Using the scores in the previous example, find
the value corresponding to the 25th percentile.

SOLUTION
Step 1 Arrange the data in order from lowest to highest.
2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Step 3
Since c is not a whole number,
round it up to the next whole
number; in this case, c 3. Start
at the lowest value and count
over to the third value, which
is 5. Hence, the value 5
corresponds to the 25th
percentile.
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Test Scores. Using the scores in the previous example, find
the value that corresponds to the 60th percentile.

SOLUTION
Step 1 Arrange the data in order from lowest to highest.
2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20
Step 2 Substitute in the formula.
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Quartiles
divide the distribution into four equal groups, denoted by
𝑄1 , 𝑄2 , 𝑄3 .

Note that 𝑄1 is the same as the 25th percentile; 𝑄2 is the same as the 50th
percentile, or the median; 𝑄3 corresponds to the 75th percentile. Quartiles
can be computed by using the formula given for computing percentiles. For
𝑄1 use 𝑝 = 25. For 𝑄2 use 𝑝 = 50. For 𝑄3 use 𝑝 = 75.
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
EXAMPLE
Find 𝑄1 , 𝑄2 , and 𝑄3 for the data set:
15, 13, 6, 5, 12, 50, 22, 18.
SOLUTION
Step 1 Arrange the data in order from lowest to highest.
5, 6, 12, 13, 15, 18, 22, 50
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
MEASURES OF RELATIVE POSITION
Deciles
divides the distribution into 10 groups, as shown. They are
denoted by 𝐷1 , 𝐷2 , etc.

Note that 𝐷1 corresponds to 𝑃10 ; 𝐷2 corresponds to 𝑃20 ; etc. Deciles can be

found by using the formulas given for percentiles. Taken altogether then,
these are the relationships among percentiles, deciles, and quartiles.
SUMMARY OF POSITION MEASURES
Deciles are denoted by 𝐷1 , 𝐷2 , 𝐷3 , . . . , 𝐷9 , and they
correspond to 𝑃10 , 𝑃20 , 𝑃30 , . . . , 𝑃90 . Quartiles are denoted by
𝑄1 , 𝑄2 , 𝑄3 and they correspond to 𝑃25 , 𝑃50 , 𝑃75 . The median is
the same as 𝑃50 or 𝑄2 or 𝐷5 .
REFENCES:
Winston S. Sirug, PhD
Mathematics in the Modern World CHED Curriculum
Compliant, 2018. MINDSHAPERS CO., INC.

Allan G. Bluman
Elementary Statistics: A STEP BY STEP APPROACH,
Ninth Edition, 2014. McGraw-Hill Education