Mean Median Mode Questions and Answers

1. Find the mean of the first 10 odd integers.

Solution:
First 10 odd integers: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19
Mean = Sum of the first 10 odd integers/Number of such integers
= (1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 + 13 + 15 + 17 + 19)/10
= 100/10
= 10
Therefore, the mean of the first 10 odd integers is 10.
2. What is the median of the following data set?
32, 6, 21, 10, 8, 11, 12, 36, 17, 16, 15, 18, 40, 24, 21, 23, 24, 24, 29, 16, 32, 31, 10, 30, 35, 32,
18, 39, 12, 20
Solution:
The ascending order of the given data set is:
6, 8, 10, 10, 11, 12, 12, 15, 16, 16, 17, 18, 18, 20, 21, 21, 23, 24, 24, 24, 29, 30, 31, 32, 32, 32,
35, 36, 39, 40
Number of values in the data set = n = 30
n/2 = 30/2 = 15
15th data value = 21
(n/2) +1 = 16
16th data value = 21
Median = [(n/2)th observation + {(n/2)+1}th observation]/2
= (15th data value + 16th data value)/2
= (21 + 21)/2
= 21
3. Identify the mode for the following data set:
21, 19, 62, 21, 66, 28, 66, 48, 79, 59, 28, 62, 63, 63, 48, 66, 59, 66, 94, 79, 19 94
Solution:
Let us write the given data set in ascending order as follows:
19, 19, 21, 21, 28, 28, 48, 48, 59, 59, 62, 62, 63, 63, 66, 66, 66, 66, 79, 79, 94, 94
Here, we can observe that the number 66 occurred the maximum number of times.
Thus, the mode of the given data set is 66.
Mean formula for grouped data
Direct method:
����, �―=∑�=1�����∑�=1���
Here, ∑fi = Sum of all frequencies
Assumed mean method:
����= (�―)=�+∑����∑��
Here, a = Assumed mean
di = xi – a
∑fi = Sum of all frequencies
Step-deviation method:
���� (�―)=�+ℎ∑����∑��
Here,
a = Assumed mean
ui = (xi – a)/h
h = Class size
∑fi = Sum of all frequencies
4. Consider the following frequency distribution. Calculate the mean weight of students.
Weight (in kg) 31- 36 – 41 – 46 – 51 – 56 – 61 – 66 – 71 –
35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75

Number of 9 6 15 3 1 2 2 1 1
Students
Solution:
The given distribution has discontinuous class intervals, so we need to make them
continuous.
Class intervals Number of students (fi) Class mark (xi) di = xi – a fidi

30.5 – 35.5 9 33 -10 -90

35.5 – 40.5 6 38 -5 -25

40.5 – 45.5 15 43 = a 0 0

45.5 – 50.5 3 48 5 15

50.5 – 55.5 1 53 10 10

55.5 – 60.5 2 58 15 30

60.5 – 65.5 2 63 20 40

65.5 – 70.5 1 68 25 25

70.5 – 75.5 1 73 30 30
Total ∑fi = 40 ∑fidi = 35
Here, ∑fi = 40 and ∑fidi = 35
By Assumed mean method,
Mean = a + (∑fidi/∑fi)
= 43 + (35/40)
= 43 + 0.875
= 43.875
Therefore, the mean weight of the students is 43.875 kg.
5. Find the mean for the following distribution.
xi 15 21 27 30 35

fi 3 5 6 7 8
Solution:
xi fi fixi

15 3 45

21 5 105

27 6 162

30 7 210

35 8 280

Total ∑fi = 29 ∑fixi = 802

Mean = ∑fixi/∑fi
= 802/29
= 27.655
Median formula for grouped data
������=�+(�2−���)×ℎ
Here,
l = Lower limit of the median class
f = Frequency of the median class
cf = Cumulative frequency of the class preceding the median class
N = Sum of frequencies
h = Class size
6. Calculate the median marks of students from the following distribution.
Marks 10 – 20 20 – 30 30 – 40 40 – 50 50 – 60 60 – 70 70 – 80

Number of Students 7 10 10 20 20 15 8
Solution:
Class interval Number of students (frequency) Cumulative frequency

10 – 20 7 7

20 – 30 10 17

30 – 40 10 27 = cf

40 – 50 20 = f 47

50 – 60 20 67

60 – 70 15 82

70 – 80 8 90
N/2 = 90/2 = 45
Cumulative frequency greater and nearer to 45 is 47, which lies in the interval 40 – 50
Median class is 40 – 50.
Lower limit of the median class = l = 40
Class size = h = 10
Frequency of the median class = f = 20
Cumulative frequency of the class preceding the median class = cf = 27
As we know,
������=�+(�2−���)×ℎ
Median = 40 + [(45 – 27)/20] × 10
= 40 + (18/2)
= 40 + 9
= 49
Hence, the median marks of the students = 49.
Mode formula for grouped data
����=�+(�1−�02�1−�0−�2)×ℎ
Here,
l = Lower limit of the modal class
h = Class size
f1 = Frequency of the modal class
f0 = Frequency of the class preceding the modal class
f2 = Frequency of the class succeeding the modal class
7. The given distribution shows the number of runs scored by some top batsmen of the
world in one-day international cricket matches.
Run Scored Number of Batsman

3000-4000 4
4000-5000 18

5000-6000 9

6000-7000 7

7000-8000 6

8000-9000 3

9000-10000 1

10000-11000 1
Find the mode of the above distribution.
Solution:
From the given,
Modal class = 4000 – 5000
Lower limit of the modal class = l = 4000
Class width (h) = 1000
Frequency of the modal class = f1 = 18,
Frequency of the class preceding the modal class = f0 = 4
Frequency of the class succeeding the modal class = f 2 = 9
Mode = l + [(f1 – f0)/ (2f1 – f0 – f2)] × h
Mode = 4000 + [(18 – 4)/(36 – 4 – 9)] × 1000
= 4000 + (14000/23)
= 4000 + 608.695
= 4608.695
= 4608.7 (approximately)
Thus, the mode of the given data is 4608.7 runs
8. If the median of a distribution given below is 28.5, then find the value of x and y.
CI 0 – 10 10 – 20 20 – 30 30 – 40 40 – 50 50 – 60 Total

Frequency 5 x 20 15 y 5 60
Solution:
From the given,
N/2 = 60/2 = 30
Median of the given data = 28.5
Median class is 20 – 30 with a cumulative frequency = 25 + x.
Lower limit of median class = l = 20
Frequency of the median class = f = 20
Cumulative frequency of the class preceding the median class = cf = 5 + x
Class size = h = 10
������=�+(�2−���)×ℎ
28.5 = 20 + [(30 − 5 − x)/ 20] × 10
28.5 – 20 = (25 – x)/2
8.5 × 2 = 25 – x
17 = 25 – x
x = 25 – 17
Therefore, x = 8
Also,
60 = 5 + 20 + 15 + 5 + x + y
60 = 5 + 20 + 15 + 5 + 8 + y
y = 60 – 53
y=7
Therefore, the value of x = 8 and y = 7.
Empirical Relation between Mean Median and Mode
Mode = 3 Median – 2 Mean
(or)
Mean – Mode = 3 (Mean – Median)
9. For a moderately skewed distribution, the mean and median are respectively 26.8
and 27.9. What is the mode of the distribution?
Solution:
Given,
Mean = 26.8
Median = 27.9
Using the relationship between mean, median and mode,
Mode = 3 Median – 2 Mean
= 3 × 27.9 – 2 × 26.8
= 83.7 – 53.6
= 30.1
Therefore, the mode of the distribution is 30.1.
10. If the mean of the given frequency distribution is 35, then find the missing frequency
y. Also, calculate the median and mode for the distribution.
Class 10 – 20 20 – 30 30 – 40 40 – 50 50 – 60

Frequency 2 4 7 y 1
Solution:
Class Frequency (fi) Class mark (xi) fixi

10 – 20 2 15 30

20 – 30 4 25 100

30 – 40 7 35 245

40 – 50 y 45 45y

50 – 60 1 55 55
Total ∑fi = 14 + y ∑fixi = 430 + 45y
As we know,
Mean = ∑fixi/∑fi
Given that the mean of the distribution is 35.
So, (430 + 45y)/(14 + y) = 35
430 + 45y = (14 + y)35
430 + 45y = 490 + 35y
45y – 35y = 490 – 430
10y = 60
y=6
Thus, the missing frequency is 6.
Now, we can calculate the mode as follows:
Class 10 – 20 20 – 30 30 – 40 40 – 50 50 – 60

Frequency 2 4 = f0 7 = f1 6 = f2 1
Here,
l = 30
h = 10
Mode = l + [(f1 – f0)/ (2f1 – f0 – f2)] × h
Mode = 30 + [(7 – 4)/(14 – 4 – 6)] × 10
= 30 + (30/4)
= 30 + 7.5
= 37.5
Now, using the formula Mode = 3Median – 2 Mean, we can get the value of median.
37.5 = 3 Median – 2 (35)
3 Median = 37.5 + 70
Median = 107.7/3
= 35.9
3,752
2,340
Practice Questions on Mean Median Mode
1. Find the mean, median and mode of the following data:
23, 18, 24, 23, 31, 37, 28, 30, 25, 40, 35, 35, 27, 25
2. The mileage (km per litre) of 50 cars of the same model was tested by a
manufacturer, and details are tabulated as given below:
Mileage (km/l) 10 – 12 12 – 14 14 – 16 16 – 18

Number of cars 7 12 18 13
Find the mean mileage.
The manufacturer claimed that the mileage of the model was 16 km/litre. Do you agree
with this claim?
3. Find the median of the following frequency distribution.
xi 15 20 22 17 30 25
fi 6 9 4 4 10 6
4. Calculate the mode for the following distribution.
Cl 40-45 45-50 50-55 55-60 60-65 65-70 70-75 75-80

Frequency 4 4 13 5 6 5 2 1
5. Suppose the mean and median of distribution are 10.14 and 8, respectively. Find the
mode of the distribution using the empirical relationship between mean, median and
mode.

Mean
The arithmetic mean of a given data is the sum of all observations divided by the
number of observations. For example, a cricketer's scores in five ODI matches are as
follows: 12, 34, 45, 50, 24. To find his average score in a match, we calculate the
arithmetic mean of data using the mean formula:
Mean = Sum of all observations/Number of observations
Mean = (12 + 34 + 45 + 50 + 24)/5
Mean = 165/5 = 33
Mean is denoted by x (pronounced as x bar). Mean is calculated a little differently
when the data is grouped or ungrouped. Let's find the mean in both cases.
Mean of Ungrouped Data
Let x1, x2, x3 , . . . , xn be n observations. We can find the arithmetic mean using the
mean formula:
Mean, x = (x1 + x2 + ... + xn)/n
Example: If the heights of 5 people are 142 cm, 150 cm, 149 cm, 156 cm, and 153 cm.
Find the mean height.
Mean height, x = (142 + 150 + 149 + 156 + 153)/5
= 750/5
= 150
Mean, x = 150 cm
Thus, the mean height is 150 cm.
Mean of Grouped Data
When the data is present in tabular form, we use the following formula:
Mean, x = (x1f1 + x2f2 + ... + xnfn)/(f1 + f2 + ... + fn)
Consider the following example.
Example 1: Find the mean of the following distribution:

x 4 6 9 10 15

f 5 10 10 7 8

Solution:
Calculation table for arithmetic mean:

xi fi xifi

4 5 20

6 10 60

9 10 90

10 7 70

15 8 120

∑ fi = 40 ∑ xi fi = 360

Mean, x = (∑xi fi)/(∑fi)

= 360/40
=9
Thus, Mean = 9
Example 2: Here is an example where the data is in the form of class intervals. The
following table indicates the data on the number of patients visiting a hospital in a
month. Find the average number of patients visiting the hospital in a day.
Number of patients Number of days visiting hospital

0-10 2

10-20 6

20-30 9

30-40 7

40-50 4

50-60 2

Solution:
In this case, we find the classmark (also called as mid-point of a class) for each class.
Note: Class mark = (lower limit + upper limit)/2
Let x1, x2, x3 , . . . , xn be the class marks of the respective classes.
Hence, we get the following table:

Class mark (xi) frequency (fi) xifi

5 2 10

15 6 90

25 9 225

35 7 245

45 4 180

55 2 110

Total ∑ fi = 30 ∑ fixi = 860

Mean, x = (∑ xifi)/(∑ fi)

= 860/30
= 28.67
x = 28.67
Challenging Question on Mean:
Let the mean of x1, x2, x3 … xn be A, then what is the mean of:
 (x1 + k), (x2 + k), (x3 + k), … , (xn + k)
  (x1 - k), (x2 - k), (x3 - k), … , (xn - k)
 kx1, kx2, kx3, … , kxn
Median
The value of the middlemost observation, obtained after arranging the data
in ascending or descending order, is called the median of the data. For example,
consider the data: 4, 4, 6, 3, 2. Let's arrange this data in ascending order: 2, 3, 4, 4, 6.
There are 5 observations. Thus, median = middle value i.e. 4.

Median of Ungrouped Data

 Step 1: Arrange the data in ascending or descending order.
 Step 2: Let the total number of observations be n.
To find the median, we need to consider if n is even or odd. If n is odd, then use the
formula:
Median = [(n + 1)/2]th observation
Example 1: Let's consider the data: 56, 67, 54, 34, 78, 43, 23. What is the median?
Solution:
Arranging in ascending order, we get: 23, 34, 43, 54, 56, 67, 78. Here, n (number of
observations) = 7
So, (7 + 1)/2 = 4
∴ Median = 4th observation
Median = 54
If n is even, then use the formula:
Median = [(n/2)th obs.+ ((n/2) + 1)th obs.]/2
Example 2: Let's consider the data: 50, 67, 24, 34, 78, 43. What is the median?
Solution:
Arranging in ascending order, we get: 24, 34, 43, 50, 67, 78.
Here, n (no.of observations) = 6
6/2 = 3
Using the median formula,
Median = (3rd observation + 4th observation) / 2
= (43 + 50)/2
Median = 46.5
Median of Grouped Data
When the data is continuous and in the form of a frequency distribution, the median is
found as shown below:
Step 1: Find the median class.
Let n = total number of observations i.e. ∑ f i
Note: Median class is the class where (n/2) lies.
Step 2: Use the following formula to find the median.
Median = l+[n2−cf]×h�+[�2−��]×ℎ
where,
 l = lower limit of median class
 c = cumulative frequency of the class preceding the median class
 n = total number of observations
 f = frequency of the median class
 h = class size

Let's consider the following example to understand this better.

Example: Find the median marks for the following distribution:

Classes 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50

Frequency 2 12 22 8 6
Solution:
We need to calculate the cumulative frequencies to find the median.
Calculation table:

Classes Number of students Cumulative frequency

0-10 2 2

10-20 12 2 + 12 = 14

20-30 22 14 + 22 = 36

30-40 8 36 + 8 = 44

40-50 6 44 + 6 = 50

N = 50
N/2 = 50/2 = 25
Median Class = (20 - 30)
l = 20, f = 22, c = 14, h = 10
Using Median formula:
Median = l+[n2−cf]×h�+[�2−��]×ℎ
= 20 + (25 - 14)/22 × 10
= 20 + (11/22) × 10
= 20 + 5 = 25
∴ Median = 25
Mode
The value which appears most often in the given data i.e. the observation with the
highest frequency is called a mode of data.
Case 1: Ungrouped Data
For ungrouped data, we just need to identify the observation which occurs maximum
times.
Mode = Observation with maximum frequency
For example in the data: 6, 8, 9, 3, 4, 6, 7, 6, 3, the value 6 appears the most number of
times. Thus, mode = 6. An easy way to remember mode is: Most Often Data Entered.
Note: A data may have no mode, 1 mode, or more than 1 mode. Depending upon the
number of modes the data has, it can be called unimodal, bimodal, trimodal, or
multimodal.
The example discussed above has only 1 mode, so it is unimodal.
Case 2: Grouped Data
When the data is continuous, the mode can be found using the following steps:
 Step 1: Find modal class i.e. the class with maximum frequency.
 Step 2: Find mode using the following formula:
Mode = L+[fm−f12fm−f1−f2]×h�+[��−�12��−�1−�2]×ℎ
where,
 L = lower limit of modal class,
  fm = frequency of modal class,
 f1 = frequency of class preceding modal class,
 f2 = frequency of class succeeding modal class,
 h = class width
Mode formula equivalently is written as follows as well:

Consider the following example to understand the formula.

Example: Find the mode of the given data:

Marks Obtained 0-20 20-40 40-60 60-80 80-100

Number of students 5 10 12 6 3

Solution:
The highest frequency = 12, so the modal class is 40-60.
L = lower limit of modal class = 40
fm = frequency of modal class = 12
f1 = frequency of class preceding modal class = 10
f2 = frequency of class succeeding modal class = 6
h = class width = 20
Using the mode formula,
Mode = L+[fm−f12fm−f1−f2]×h�+[��−�12��−�1−�2]×ℎ
= 40 + [12−102×12−10−6]×20[12−102×12−10−6]×20
= 40 + (2/8) × 20
= 45
∴ Mode = 45
Mean, Median and Mode Formulas
We covered the formulas and methods to find the mean, median, and mode for a
grouped and ungrouped set of data. Let us summarize and recall them using the list of
mean, median, and mode formulas given below,
 Mean formula for ungrouped data: Sum of all observations/Number of
observations
 Mean formula for grouped data: x = (x1f1 + x2f2 + ... + xnfn)/(f1 + f2 + ... + fn)
 Median formula for ungrouped data: If n is odd, then use the formula: Median =
(n + 1)/2th observation. If n is even, then use the formula: Median = [(n/2) th obs.+
((n/2) + 1)th obs.]/2
 Median formula for grouped data: Median = l+[n2−cf]×h�+[�2−��]×ℎ, where
 l = lower limit of median class
 c = cumulative frequency of the class preceding the median class
 f = frequency of the median class
 h = class size
 Mode formula for ungrouped data: Mode = Observation with maximum
frequency
 Mode formula for grouped data: Mode
= L+[fm−f12fm−f1−f2]×h�+[��−�12��−�1−�2]×ℎ, where
 L = lower limit of modal class,
 fm = frequency of modal class,
 f1 = frequency of class preceding modal class,
 f2 = frequency of class succeeding modal class,
 h = class width
Take a quick look at the figure below with mean mode median formulas.
Relation Between Mean, Median and Mode
The three measures of central values i.e. mean, median, and mode are closely
connected by the following relations (called an empirical relationship).
Mean - Mode = 3 (Mean - Median) (or) 2Mean + Mode = 3Median

For instance, if we are asked to calculate the mean, median, and mode of continuous
grouped data, then we can calculate mean and median using the formulas as
discussed in the previous sections and then find mode using the empirical relation.
For example, we have data whose mode = 65 and median = 61.6.
Then, we can find the mean using the above mean, median, and mode relation.
2Mean + Mode = 3 Median
⇒ 2Mean = 3 × 61.6 - 65
⇒ 2Mean = 119.8
⇒ Mean = 119.8/2
⇒ Mean = 59.9
Difference Between Mean and Average
The term average is frequently used in everyday life to denote a value that is typical for
a group of quantities. Average rainfall in a month or the average age of employees of
an organization is a typical example. We might read an article stating "People spend
an average of 2 hours every day on social media. " We understand from the use of the
term average that not everyone is spending 2 hours a day on social media but some
spend more time and some less.
However, we can understand from the term average that 2 hours is a good indicator of
the amount of time spent on social media per day. Most people use average and
mean interchangeably even though they are not the same.
 Average is the value that indicates what is most likely to be expected.
 They help to summarise large data into a single value.
An average tends to lie centrally with the values of the observations arranged in
ascending order of magnitude. So, we call it an average measure of the central
tendency of the data. Averages are of different types. What we refer to as mean i.e.
the arithmetic mean is one of the averages. Mean is called the mathematical average
whereas median and mode are positional averages.
Difference Between Mean and Median
Mean is known as the mathematical average whereas the median is known as the
positional average. To understand the difference between the two, consider the
following example. A department of an organization has 5 employees which include a
supervisor and four executives. The executives draw a salary of ₹10,000 per month while
the supervisor gets ₹40,000.
Mean = (10000 + 10000 + 10000 + 10000 + 40000)/5 = 80000/5 = 16000
Thus, the mean salary is ₹16,000.
To find the median, we consider the ascending order: 10000, 10000, 10000, 10000,
40000.
n = 5,
so, (n + 1)/2 = 3
Thus, the median is the 3rd observation.
Median = 10000
Thus, the median is ₹10,000 per month.
Now let us compare the two measures of central tendencies.
We can observe that the mean salary of ₹16,000 does not give even an estimated
salary of any of the employees whereas the median salary represents the data more
effectively.
One of the weaknesses of the mean is that it gets affected by extreme values (known
as outliers).
Look at the following graph to understand how extreme values affect mean and
median:
So, mean is to be used when we don't have extremes in the data. If we have extreme
points, then the median gives a better estimation. Here's a quick summary of the
differences between the two.

Mean Vs
Mean Median
Median

Average of given data The central value of data

Definition
(Mathematical Average) (Positional Average)

Arrange data in
Add all values and divide
ascending / descending
Calculation by the total number of
order and find the middle
observations
value

Values of Every value is considered Every value is not

data for calculation considered

Effect of Greatly affected by Doesn't get affected by

Mean Vs
Mean Median
Median

extreme extreme points extreme points

points

Mean, Median and Mode

from Grouped Frequencies

Explained with Three Examples

The Race and the Naughty Puppy
This starts with some raw data (not a grouped frequency yet) ...

Alex timed 21 people in the sprint race, to the nearest second:

59, 65, 61, 62, 53, 55, 60, 70, 64, 56, 58, 58, 62, 62, 68, 65, 56, 59, 68, 61, 67
To find the Mean Alex adds up all the numbers, then divides by how many numbers:
Mean = 59 + 65 + 61 + 62 + 53 + 55 + 60 + 70 + 64 + 56 + 58 + 58 + 62 + 62 + 68 + 65 + 56 +
59 + 68 + 61 + 6721
= 61.38095...

To find the Median Alex places the numbers in value order and finds the middle
number.

In this case the median is the 11th number:

53, 55, 56, 56, 58, 58, 59, 59, 60, 61, 61, 62, 62, 62, 64, 65, 65, 67, 68, 68, 70
Median = 61
To find the Mode, or modal value, Alex places the numbers in value order then counts
how many of each number. The Mode is the number which appears most often (there
can be more than one mode):
53, 55, 56, 56, 58, 58, 59, 59, 60, 61, 61, 62, 62, 62, 64, 65, 65, 67, 68, 68, 70
62 appears three times, more often than the other values, so Mode = 62
Grouped Frequency Table
Alex then makes a Grouped Frequency Table:
Seconds Frequency
51 - 55 2
56 - 60 7
61 - 65 8
66 - 70 4

So 2 runners took between 51 and 55 seconds, 7 took between 56 and 60 seconds, etc
Oh No!

Suddenly all the original data gets lost (naughty pup!)

Only the Grouped Frequency Table survived ...

... can we help Alex calculate the Mean, Median and Mode from just that table?
The answer is ... no we can't. Not accurately anyway. But, we can make estimates.
Estimating the Mean from Grouped Data
So all we have left is:
Seconds Frequency
51 - 55 2
56 - 60 7
61 - 65 8
66 - 70 4

The groups (51-55, 56-60, etc), also called class intervals, are of width 5
The midpoints are in the middle of each class: 53, 58, 63 and 68
We can estimate the Mean by using the midpoints.
So, how does this work?
Think about the 7 runners in the group 56 - 60: all we know is that they ran somewhere
between 56 and 60 seconds:
 Maybe all seven of them did 56 seconds,
 Maybe all seven of them did 60 seconds,
 But it is more likely that there is a spread of numbers: some at 56, some at 57, etc
So we take an average and assume that all seven of them took 58 seconds.
Let's now make the table using midpoints:
Midpoint Frequency
53 2
58 7
63 8
68 4

Our thinking is: "2 people took 53 sec, 7 people took 58 sec, 8 people took 63 sec and 4
took 68 sec". In other words we imagine the data looks like this:
53, 53, 58, 58, 58, 58, 58, 58, 58, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 68, 68, 68, 68
Then we add them all up and divide by 21. The quick way to do it is to multiply each
midpoint by each frequency:
Midpoint Frequency Midpoint ×
x f Frequency
fx
53 2 106
58 7 406
63 8 504
68 4 272
Totals: 21 1288
And then our estimate of the mean time to complete the race is:
Estimated Mean = 128821 = 61.333...
Very close to the exact answer we got earlier.
Estimating the Median from Grouped Data
Let's look at our data again:
Seconds Frequency
51 - 55 2
56 - 60 7
61 - 65 8
66 - 70 4

The median is the middle value, which in our case is the 11th one, which is in the 61 - 65
group:
We can say "the median group is 61 - 65"
But if we want an estimated Median value we need to look more closely at the 61 - 65
group.
We call it "61 - 65", but it really includes values from 60.5 up to (but not including) 65.5.
Why? Well, the values are in whole seconds, so a real time of 60.5 is measured as 61.
Likewise 65.4 is measured as 65.
At 60.5 we already have 9 runners, and by the next boundary at 65.5 we
have 17 runners. By drawing a straight line in between we can pick out where the
median frequency of n/2 runners is:

And this handy formula does the calculation:

Estimated Median = L + (n/2) − BG × w
where:
 L is the lower class boundary of the group containing the median
 n is the total number of values
 B is the cumulative frequency of the groups before the median group
 G is the frequency of the median group
 w is the group width
For our example:
 L = 60.5
 n = 21
 B=2+7=9
 G=8
 w=5
Estimated Median= 60.5 + (21/2) − 98 × 5
= 60.5 + 0.9375
= 61.4375
Estimating the Mode from Grouped Data
Again, looking at our data:
Seconds Frequency
51 - 55 2
56 - 60 7
61 - 65 8
66 - 70 4
We can easily find the modal group (the group with the highest frequency), which is 61
- 65
We can say "the modal group is 61 - 65"
But the actual Mode may not even be in that group! Or there may be more than one
mode. Without the raw data we don't really know.
But, we can estimate the Mode using the following formula:
Estimated Mode = L + fm − fm-1(fm − fm-1) + (fm − fm+1) × w
where:
 L is the lower class boundary of the modal group
 fm-1 is the frequency of the group before the modal group
 fm is the frequency of the modal group
 fm+1 is the frequency of the group after the modal group
 w is the group width
In this example:
 L = 60.5
 fm-1 = 7
 fm = 8
 fm+1 = 4
 w=5
Estimated Mode= 60.5 + 8 − 7(8 − 7) + (8 − 4) × 5
= 60.5 + (1/5) × 5
= 61.5

Our final result is:

 Estimated Mean: 61.333...
 Estimated Median: 61.4375
 Estimated Mode: 61.5
(Compare that with the true Mean, Median and Mode of 61.38..., 61 and 62 that we
got at the very start.)
And that is how it is done.
Now let us look at two more examples, and get some more practice along the way!
Baby Carrots Example

Example: You grew fifty baby carrots using special soil. You dig them up and measure
their lengths (to the nearest mm) and group the results:
Length
Frequency
(mm)
150 - 154 5
155 - 159 2
160 - 164 6
165 - 169 8
170 - 174 9
175 - 179 11
180 - 184 6
185 - 189 3

Mean
Length Midpoint Frequency
(mm) x f fx
150 - 154 152 5 760
155 - 159 157 2 314
160 - 164 162 6 972
165 - 169 167 8 1336
170 - 174 172 9 1548
175 - 179 177 11 1947
180 - 184 182 6 1092
185 - 189 187 3 561
Totals: 50 8530

Estimated Mean = 853050 = 170.6 mm

Median
The Median is the mean of the 25th and the 26th length, so is in the 170 - 174 group:
 L = 169.5 (the lower class boundary of the 170 - 174 group)
 n = 50
 B = 5 + 2 + 6 + 8 = 21
 G=9
 w=5
Estimated Median= 169.5 + (50/2) − 219 × 5
= 169.5 + 2.22...
= 171.7 mm (to 1 decimal)

Mode
The Modal group is the one with the highest frequency, which is 175 - 179:
 L = 174.5 (the lower class boundary of the 175 - 179 group)
 fm-1 = 9
 fm = 11
 fm+1 = 6
 w=5
Estimated Mode= 174.5 + 11 − 9(11 − 9) + (11 − 6) × 5
= 174.5 + 1.42...
= 175.9 mm (to 1 decimal)
Age Example
Age is a special case.
When we say "Sarah is 17" she stays "17" up until her eighteenth birthday.
She might be 17 years and 364 days old and still be called "17".
This changes the midpoints and class boundaries.

Example: The ages of the 112 people who live on a tropical island are grouped as
follows:
Age Number
0-9 20
10 - 19 21
20 - 29 23
30 - 39 16
40 - 49 11
50 - 59 10
60 - 69 7
70 - 79 3
 80 - 89 1
A child in the first group 0 - 9 could be almost 10 years old. So the midpoint for this
group is 5 not 4.5
The midpoints are 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75 and 85
Similarly, in the calculations of Median and Mode, we will use the class boundaries 0, 10,
20 etc
Mean
Age Midpoint Number
x f fx
0-9 5 20 100
10 - 19 15 21 315
20 - 29 25 23 575
30 - 39 35 16 560
40 - 49 45 11 495
50 - 59 55 10 550
60 - 69 65 7 455
70 - 79 75 3 225
80 - 89 85 1 85
Totals: 112 3360

Estimated Mean = 3360112 = 30

Median
The Median is the mean of the ages of the 56th and the 57th people, so is in the 20 - 29
group:
 L = 20 (the lower class boundary of the class interval containing the median)
 n = 112
 B = 20 + 21 = 41
 G = 23
 w = 10
Estimated Median= 20 + (112/2) − 4123 × 10
= 20 + 6.52...
= 26.5 (to 1 decimal)

Mode
The Modal group is the one with the highest frequency, which is 20 - 29:
 L = 20 (the lower class boundary of the modal class)
 fm-1 = 21
 fm = 23
 fm+1 = 16
 w = 10
Estimated Mode= 20 + 23 − 21(23 − 21) + (23 − 16) × 10
 = 20 + 2.22...
= 22.2 (to 1 decimal)
Summary
 For grouped data, we cannot find the exact Mean, Median and Mode, we can
only give estimates.
 To estimate the Mean use the midpoints of the class intervals:
Estimated Mean = Sum of (Midpoint × Frequency)Sum of Frequency
 To estimate the Median use:
Estimated Median = L + (n/2) − BG × w
where:
 L is the lower class boundary of the group containing the median
 n is the total number of data
 B is the cumulative frequency of the groups before the median group
 G is the frequency of the median group
 w is the group width
 To estimate the Mode use:
Estimated Mode = L + fm − fm-1(fm − fm-1) + (fm − fm+1) × w
where:
 L is the lower class boundary of the modal group
 fm-1 is the frequency of the group before the modal group
 fm is the frequency of the modal group
 fm+1 is the frequency of the group after the modal group
 w is the group width