The Measures of Central Tendency

The measures of central tendency are methods used in the study of statistical data and values. The three measures of central tendency are the mean, median, and mode.

The mean is also called the "average" is the most common used measure of central tendency. It is the sum of all the given sample then divided by the number of the added samples. For example, given the sample of 3+4+6+11 = 24 divided by 4, so the mean is 6.

The median is the middle point of a given sample or distribution. For example, given the sample of 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,6,6,7,7,8,8 the median is 5. A good technique to find the median is to arrange the sample from the lowest to the highest then determine the middle most number. But if the sample has even number of distribution then you have to get the average of the two middle most numbers. For example, given the sample of 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9 the two middle most numbers are 5 and 6, the average is (5+6)/2 = 5.5 Therefore, 5.5 is the median of the given sample.

The mode is the most frequently occuring value in a given sample. For example, given the sample 2,2,3,3,4,4,4,5,6,6,7,7,8,8 the most frequently occuring number is 4. This measure of central tendency is used primarily to determine the frequency distribution of values in a given sample.