10/02/2011

Statistics Review: Mean, mode, median, range, quartiles

Statistics is the study of data: how to collect, summarize and present it. We commonly use some parameters to support our statistic studies, these are the following I sum up here for you:


The statistical mean is commonly called the average:

To find the mean of a group of numbers:

  • Add the numbers together
  • Divide by how many numbers were added together

Mean 1

Mean 2

The statistical mode is the number that occurs most frequently in a set of numbers.

To find the mode of a group of numbers:

  • Arrange the numbers in order by size.
  • Determine the number of instances of each numerical value.
  • The numerical value that has the most instances is the mode.
  • There may be more than one mode when two or more numbers have an equal number of instances and this is also the maximum instances
  • A mode does not exist if no number has more than one instance.

Example: The mode of 2, 4, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9, 12 is 5.

Mode

The statistical median is middle number of a group of numbers that have been arranged in order by size. If there is an even number of terms, the median is the mean of the two middle numbers:

To find the median of a group of numbers:

  • Arrange the numbers in order by size
  • If there is an odd number of terms, the median is the center term.
  • If there is an even number of terms, add the two middle terms and divide by 2.

Median 1

Median 2

The statistical range is the difference between the lowest and highest valued numbers in a set of numbers.

To find the range of a group of numbers:

  • Arrange the numbers in order by size
  • Subtract the smallest number from the largest number.

Range 1

Range 2

Quartiles are the values that divide a list of numbers into quarters.

  • First put the list of numbers in order
  • Then cut the list into four equal parts
  • The Quartiles are at the "cuts"

Quartiles 1

Quartiles 2

Quartiles 3

Quartiles 4

1 comment:

  1. Is very interesting! I understand perfectly!

    ReplyDelete