Skewness Kurtosis

SKEWNESS
&
KURTOSIS
Concept of Skewness
A distribution is said to be skewed-when the mean, median and mode fall at

different position in the distribution and the balance (or center of gravity) is
shifted to one side or the other i.e. to the left or to the right.
Therefore, the concept of skewness helps us to understand the
relationship between three measures-
•Mean.
•Median.
•Mode.
Symmetrical Distribution
• A frequency distribution is said to be symmetrical if the frequencies

are equally distributed on both the sides of central value.
• A symmetrical distribution may be either bell – shaped or U shaped.
• In symmetrical distribution, the values of mean, median and mode are
equal i.e. Mean=Median=Mode
Skewed Distribution
• A frequency distribution is said to be skewed if the frequencies are

not equally distributed on both the sides of the central value.
• A skewed distribution may be-
• Positively Skewed
• Negatively Skewed
Skewed Distribution
• Negatively Skewed • Positively Skewed

• In this, the distribution is skewed • In this, the distribution is skewed
to the left (negative) to the right (positive)
• Here, Mode exceeds Mean and • Here, Mean exceeds Mode and
Median. Median.
Mean<Median<Mode Mode<Median<Mean
Tests of Skewness
In order to ascertain whether a distribution is skewed or not the following tests may
be applied. Skewness is present if:
•The values of mean, median and mode do not coincide.
•When the data are plotted on a graph they do not give the normal bell shaped form i.e.
when cut along a vertical line through the center the two halves are not equal.
•The sum of the positive deviations from the median is not equal to the sum of the
negative deviations.
•Quartiles are not equidistant from the median.
•Frequencies are not equally distributed at points of equal deviation from the mode.
Graphical Measures of Skewness
• Measures of skewness help us to know to what degree and in which direction (positive or
negative) the frequency distribution has a departure from symmetry.
• Positive or negative skewness can be detected graphically (as below) depending on whether the
right tail or the left tail is longer but, we don’t get idea of the magnitude
• Hence some statistical measures are required to find the magnitude of lack of symmetry
Mean> Median> Mode Mean=Median=Mode Mean<Median<Mode
Symmetrical Skewed to the Left Skewed to the Right

Statistical Measures of Skewness
Absolute Measures of Skewness Relative Measures of Skewness

Following are the absolute measures of There are four measures of skewness:
skewness:
•Skewness (Sk) = Mean – Median •β and γ Coefficient of skewness
•Karl Pearson's Coefficient of skewness

•Skewness (Sk) = Mean – Mode
•Bowley’s Coefficient of skewness
•Skewness (Sk) = (Q3 - Q2) - (Q2 - Q1)
•Kelly’s Coefficient of skewness
β and γ Coefficient of Skewness
Karl Pearson's Coefficient of Skewness……01
• This method is most frequently used for measuring skewness. The formula for
measuring coefficient of skewness is given by
SKP = Mean – Mode

σ
Where,
SKP = Karl Pearson's Coefficient of skewness,
σ = standard deviation.
Normally, this coefficient of skewness lies between -3 to +3.

Karl Pearson's Coefficient of Skewness…..02
In case the mode is indeterminate, the coefficient of skewness is:
Mean – (3 Median - 2
SKP = Mean)
σ
Now this formula is equal to
3(Mean - Median)
SKP = σ
The value of coefficient of skewness is zero, when the distribution is symmetrical.

The value of coefficient of skewness is positive, when the distribution is positively skewed.
The value of coefficient of skewness is negative, when the distribution is negatively skewed.
Bowley’s Coefficient of Skewness……01
Bowley developed a measure of skewness, which is based on quartile values.

The formula for measuring skewness is:
(Q3 – Q2) – (Q2 – Q1)

SKB =
(Q3 – Q1)
Where,
SKB = Bowley’s Coefficient of skewness,
Q1 = Quartile first Q2 = Quartile second
Q3 = Quartile Third
Bowley’s Coefficient of Skewness…..02
The above formula can be converted to-
SKB = Q3 + Q1 – 2Median
(Q3 – Q1)
The value of coefficientof skewness is zero, if it is a symmetrical distribution.

If the value is greater than zero, it is positively skewed distribution.
And if the value is less than zero, it is negatively skewed distribution.
Kelly’s Coefficient of Skewness…..01
Kelly developed another measure of skewness, which is based on percentiles and

deciles.
The formula for measuring skewness is based on percentile as follows:
P90 – 2P50 + P
SKk = 10
P90 – P10
Where,
SKK = Kelly’s Coefficient of skewness,
= Percentile
P90
Ninety.
P50 = Percentile Fifty.
= Percentile Ten.
P
Kelly’s Coefficient of Skewness…..02
This formula for measuring skewness is based on percentile are as follows:
SKk = D9 – 2D5 + D1
D9 – D1
Where,
SKK = Kelly’s Coefficient of skewness,
D9 = Deciles Nine.
D5 = Deciles Five. D1 = Deciles one.
Example:
Homework:
• Ques: The following are the marks of 150 students in an examination. Calculate Karl Pearson’s coefficient of
skewness.
Marks No. of Students

0-10 20
10-20 10
20-30 40
30-40 0
40-50 15
50-60 20
60-70 15
70-80 10
80-90 30
Kurtosis
•Kurtosis is another measure of the shape of a frequency curve. It is a Greek word, which
means bulginess.
•While skewness signifies the extent of asymmetry, kurtosis measures the degree of
peakedness of a frequency distribution.
•Karl Pearson classified curves into three types on the basis of the shape of their peaks.
These are:-
•Leptokurtic
•Mesokurtic
•Platykurtic
Kurtosis
• When the peak of a curve becomes

relatively high then that curve is
called Leptokurtic.
• When the curve is flat-topped,

then it is called Platykurtic.
• Since normal curve is neither very

peaked nor very flat topped, so it
is taken as a basis for comparison.
• This normal curve is called

Mesokurtic.
Measure of Kurtosis
• There are two measure of Kurtosis:
• Karl Pearson’s Measures of Kurtosis
• Kelly’s Measure of Kurtosis

Karl Pearson’s Measures of Kurtosis
Formula Result:
Kelly’s Measure of Kurtosis
Formula Result:
Example:
Homework:
• Ques: The first four raw moments of a distribution are 2, 136, 320, and 40,000.
Find out coefficients of skewness and kurtosis.

Skewness Kurtosis

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SKEWNESS

A distribution is said to be skewed-when the mean, median and mode fall at

• A frequency distribution is said to be symmetrical if the frequencies

• A frequency distribution is said to be skewed if the frequencies are

• A skewed distribution may be-

• Negatively Skewed • Positively Skewed

Mean> Median> Mode Mean=Median=Mode Mean<Median<Mode

Symmetrical Skewed to the Left Skewed to the Right

Absolute Measures of Skewness Relative Measures of Skewness

•Skewness (Sk) = Mean – Median •β and γ Coefficient of skewness

•Karl Pearson's Coefficient of skewness

SKP = Mean – Mode

Normally, this coefficient of skewness lies between -3 to +3.

The value of coefficient of skewness is zero, when the distribution is symmetrical.

Bowley developed a measure of skewness, which is based on quartile values.

(Q3 – Q2) – (Q2 – Q1)

The above formula can be converted to-

The value of coefficientof skewness is zero, if it is a symmetrical distribution.

Kelly developed another measure of skewness, which is based on percentiles and

This formula for measuring skewness is based on percentile are as follows:

Marks No. of Students

• When the peak of a curve becomes

• When the curve is flat-topped,

• Since normal curve is neither very

• This normal curve is called

• There are two measure of Kurtosis:

• Karl Pearson’s Measures of Kurtosis

• Kelly’s Measure of Kurtosis

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