The Mean, Median, and Mode

Mean, median, and mode are three basic ways to look at the value of a set of numbers. You
will start by learning about the mean.

The mean, often called the average, of a numerical set of data, is simply the sum of the data
values divided by the number of values. This is also referred to as the arithmetic mean. The
mean is the balance point of a distribution.

sum of the values

Mean =
the number of values

For instance, take a look at the following example. Use the formula to calculate the mean
number of hours that Stephen worked each month based on the example below.

Example

Problem Stephen has been working on programing and

updating a Web site for his company for the
past 15 months. The following numbers
represent the number of hours Stephen has
worked on this Web site for each of the past 7
months:

24, 25, 31, 50, 53, 66, 78

What is the mean (average) number of hours

that Stephen worked on this Web site each
month?

Step 1: Add the numbers to determine the total

number of hours he worked.

24 + 25 + 33 + 50 + 53 + 66 + 78 = 329

Step 2: Divide the total by the number of

months.

Answer

The calculations for the mean of a sample and the total population are done in the same way.
However, the mean of a population is constant, while the mean of a sample varies from
sample to sample.
 Example

Problem Mark operates Technology Titans, a Web site

service that employs 8 people. Find the mean
age of his workers if the ages of the employees
are as follows:

55, 63, 34, 59, 29, 46, 51, 41

Step 1: Add the numbers to determine the total

age of the workers.

55 + 63 + 34 + 59 + 29 + 46 + 51 + 41 = 378

Step 2: Divide the total by the number of

months.

Answer

Look at another approach. If you were to take a sample of 3 employees from the group of 8
and calculate the mean age for these 3 workers, would the results change?

Use the ages 55, 29, and 46 for one sample of 3, and the ages 34, 41, and 59 for another
sample of 3:

The mean age of the first group of 3 employees is 43.33 years.

The mean age of the second group of 3 employees is 44.66 years.

The mean age for a sample of a population depends upon the values that are included in the
sample. From this example, you can see that the mean of a population and that of a sample
from the population are not necessarily the same.

In addition to calculating the mean for a given set of data values, you can apply your
understanding of the mean to determine other information that may be asked for in everyday
problems.
 Example

Problem Two weeks before Mark opened Technology

Titans, he launched his company Web site.
During those 14 days, Mark had an average of
24.5 hits on his Web site per day. In the first
two days that Technology Titans was open for
business, the Web site received 42 and 53 hits
respectively. Determine the new average for
hits on the Web site.

Step 1: Multiply the given average by 14 to

determine the total number of hits on Mark's
Web site.

24.5 x 14 = 343

Step 2: Add the hits for the first two days his
business was open.

343 + 42 + 53 = 438

Step 3: Divide this new total by 16 to

determine the new average.

Answer

All values for the means you have calculated so far have been for ungrouped, or listed, data.
A mean can also be determined for data that is grouped, or placed in intervals. Unlike listed
data, the individual values for grouped data are not available, and you are not able to
calculate their sum. To calculate the mean of grouped data, the first step is to determine the
midpoint of each interval or class. These midpoints must then be multiplied by the
frequencies of the corresponding classes. The sum of the products divided by the total
number of values will be the value of the mean.

The following example will show how the mean value for grouped data can be calculated.

Example

Problem In Tim's office, there are 25 employees. Each

employee travels to work every morning in his
or her own car. The distribution of the driving
times (in minutes) from home to work for the
employees is shown in the table below.
Driving Times Number of
(minutes) Employees

0 to less than 10 3

10 to less than 20 10

20 to less than 30 6

30 to less than 40 4

40 to less than 50 2

Calculate the mean of the driving times.

Step 1: Determine the midpoint for each

interval.

For 0 to less than 10, the midpoint is

5.

For 10 to less than 20, the midpoint

is 15.

For 20 to less than 30, the midpoint

is 25.

For 30 to less than 40, the midpoint

is 35.

For 40 to less than 50, the midpoint

is 45.

Step 2: Multiply each midpoint by the

frequency for the class.

For 0 to less than 10, (5)(3) = 15

For 10 to less than 20, (15)(10) = 150

For 20 to less than 30, (25)(6) = 150

For 30 to less than 40, (35)(4) = 140

For 40 to less than 50, (45)(2) = 90

Step 3: Add the results from Step 2 and divide

 the sum by 25.

15 + 150 + 150 + 140 + 90 = 545

Answer

The mean is often used as a summary statistic. However, it is affected by extreme values
(outliers): either an unusually high or low number. When you have extreme values at one end
of a data set, the mean is not a very good summary statistic.

Example: Outliers

If you were employed by a company that paid all of its employees a salary between $60,000
and $70,000, you could probably estimate the mean salary to be about $65,000.

However, if you had to add in the $150,000 salary of the CEO when calculating the mean,
then the value of the mean would increase greatly. It would, in fact, be the mean of the
employees' salaries, but it probably would not be a good measure of the central tendency of
the salaries.

In addition to calculating the mean for a given set of data values, you can also apply your
understanding of the mean to determine other information that may be asked for in everyday
problems.

The Median

What is the Median?

The median is the number that falls in the middle position once the data has been organized.
Organized data means the numbers are arranged from smallest to largest or from largest to
smallest. The median for an odd number of data values is the value that divides the data into
two halves. If n represents the number of data values and n is an odd number, then the median

will be found in the position.

This measure of central tendency is typically used when the mean value is affected by an
unusually low number or an unusually high number in the data set (outliers). Outliers distort
the mean value to the extent that the mean value no longer accurately depicts the set of data.

For example: If one of the houses in your neighborhood was broken down and maintained a
low property value, then you would not want to include this property when determining the
value of your own home. However, if you are purchasing a home in that neighborhood, you
may want to include the outlier since it would drive down the price you would have to pay.
Try a few examples to follow the steps needed to calculate the median.

Example

Problem Find the median of the following data:

12, 2, 16, 8, 14, 10, 6

Step 1: Organize the data, or arrange the

numbers from smallest to largest.

2, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16

Step 2: Since the number of data values is odd,

the median will be found in the position.

Step 3: In this case, the median is the value

that is found in the fourth position of the
organized data.

2, 6, 8, 10 , 12, 14, 16

Answer

Another way to look at the example is to narrow the data down to find the middle number.

2, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16

Χ, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, Χ

Χ, Χ, 8, 10, 12, Χ, Χ

Χ, Χ, Χ, 10, Χ, Χ, Χ

Here is another example of how to calculate the median of a set of numbers.

Example

Problem Find the median of the following data:

7, 9, 3, 4, 11, 1, 8, 6, 1, 4

Step 1: Organize the data, or arrange the

 numbers from smallest to largest.

1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11

Step 2: Since the number of data values is

even, the median will be the mean value of the

numbers found before and after the

position.

Step 3: The number found before the 5.5

position is 4 and the number found after the 5.5
position is 6. Now, you need to find the mean
value.

1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11

Answer

The Mode

What is the Mode?

The mode of a set of data is simply the value that appears most frequently in the set.

If two or more values appear with the same frequency, each is a mode. The downside to using
the mode as a measure of central tendency is that a set of data may have no mode, or it may
have more than one mode. However, the same set of data will have only one mean and only
one median.

 The word modal is often used when referring to the mode of a data set.
 If a data set has only one value that occurs most often, the set is called unimodal.
 A data set that has two values that occur with the same greatest frequency is referred
to as bimodal.
 When a set of data has more than two values that occur with the same greatest
frequency, the set is called multimodal.

When determining the mode of a data set, calculations are not required, but keen observation
is a must. The mode is a measure of central tendency that is simple to locate, but it is not used
much in practical applications.
 Example

Problem Find the mode of the following data:

76, 81, 79, 80, 78, 83, 77, 79, 82, 75

There is no need to organize the data, unless

you think that it would be easier to locate the
mode if the numbers were arranged from least
to greatest. In the above data set, the number
79 appears twice, but all the other numbers
appear only once. Since 79 appears with the
greatest frequency, it is the mode of the data
values.

Answer

Example

The ages of 12 randomly selected customers at

a local Best Buy are listed below:
Problem
23, 21, 29, 24, 31, 21, 27, 23, 24, 32, 33, 19

What is the mode of the above ages?

The above data set has three values that each

occur with a frequency of 2. These values are
21, 23, and 24. All other values occur only
once. Therefore, this set of data has three
modes.

Answer

Remember that the mode can be determined for qualitative data as well as quantitative data,
but the mean and the median can only be determined for quantitative data.

Example

Problem You begin to observe to the color of clothing

your employees wear. Your goal is to find out
what color is worn most frequently so that you
can offer company shirts to your employees.

Monday: Red, Blue, Black, Pink, Green, and

 Blue

Tuesday: Green, Blue, Pink, White, Blue, and

Blue

Wednesday: Orange, White, White, Blue, Blue,

and Red

Thursday: Brown, Black, Brown, Blue, White,

and Blue

Friday: Blue, Black, Blue, Red, Red, and Pink

What is the mode of the colors above?

The color blue was worn 11 times during the

week. All other colors were worn with much
less frequency in comparison to the color blue.

Answer

Now that you have added to your knowledge by reviewing the lesson and the examples, it is
time to watch the following Khan Academy videos. These videos will provide additional
explanations and working examples of how to determine the mean, median, and mode to help
you gain a better understanding of this new concept.

Math Video Toolkit

Mean, Median, and Mode

Statistics the Average

Practice Exercise: Mean, Median, and Mode

Now you get a chance to work out some problems. You may use a calculator if you
would like. Study each of these problems carefully; you will see similar problems
on the lesson knowledge check.

Select the following link to complete the practice activity. You will need to get out
a piece of paper and a pencil to complete the practice problems.

Mean, Median, and Mode Practice Problems

Once you complete the practice activity, check to see how well you did by selecting
the following link:

Solutions: Mean, Median, and Mode

Summarizing Your Learning
In this lesson, you have learned how to calculate the mean, median, and mode of a set of data
values. In addition, you have been introduced to other key terms such as measures of central
tendency, unimodal, bimodal, and outliers. You also learned that the mode is the only
measure of central tendency used in both quantitative and qualitative data.

As with every lesson and module, you are encouraged to research how these topics pertain to
your particular area of study within the world of information technology. By now you are
very aware that not every topic in mathematics will be directly implemented in your future
career field. However, do not rule out the possibility that this topic might be an integral part
of your future until you do some research.

Assessing Your Learning

Now that you have read over the lesson carefully and attempted the practice
problems, it is time for a knowledge check. Please note that this is a graded part of
this lesson so be sure you have prepared yourself before starting.

1) Complete the Statistics: Finding Mean, Median, and Mode.

Resource:

“Chapter 5: Measures of Central Tendency” by Merry, B. © 2012 retrieved from

http://www.ck12.org/flexbook/chapter/9079 and used under a Creative Commons Attribution
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. This is an adaption of the lesson titled,
“Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median, and Mode” by the National Information
Security and Geospatial Technologies Consortium (NISGTC) is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0