Jordan University College

Probability and Statistics

Module 5

Introduction to Statistics

By, Nullo, M.H. Dept of Information Sciences

An Overview of
Statistics
 Statistics
Statistics is the science of collecting, organizing, analyzing,
and interpreting data in order to make decisions.

A population is the collection of all outcomes, responses,

measurement, or counts that are of interest.

A sample is a subset of a population.

 Populations & Samples
Example:
In a recent survey, 250 college students at Union College
were asked if they smoked cigarettes regularly. 35 of the
students said yes. Identify the population and the sample.

Responses of all students at

Union College (population)

Responses of students
in survey (sample)
 Data Sets

Population
The collection of all outcomes,
responses, measurements, or
counts that are of interest.

Sample
A subset of the population.

5
 Branches of Statistics
The study of statistics has two major branches: descriptive
statistics and inferential statistics.
Statistics

Descriptive Inferential
statistics statistics
Involves the Involves using a
organization, sample to draw
summarization, conclusions about a
and display of data. population.
 Descriptive Statistics

 Collect data
 e.g., Survey

 Present data
 e.g., Tables and graphs

 Summarize data
 e.g., Sample mean =
 X i

Chap 1-7
 Inferential Statistics
 Estimation
 e.g., Estimate the population
mean weight using the sample
mean weight
 Hypothesis testing
 e.g., Test the claim that the
population mean weight is 120
pounds

Inference is the process of drawing conclusions or

making decisions about a population based on
sample results
Chap 1-8
Data Classification
 Types of Data
Data sets can consist of two types of data: qualitative data
and quantitative data.
Data

Qualitative Quantitative
Data Data
Consists of Consists of
attributes, labels, numerical
or non-numerical measurements or
entries. counts.
 Qualitative and Quantitative Data
Example:
The grade point averages of five students are listed in the
table. Which data are qualitative data and which are
quantitative data?
Student GPA
Sally 3.22
Bob 3.98
Cindy 2.75
Mark 2.24
Kathy 3.84
Qualitative data Quantitative data
 Types of Data

Qualitative Data
Consists of attributes, labels, or non-numerical entries.

Major Place of birth Eye color

12
 Types of Data

Quantitative data
Numerical measurements or counts.

Age Weight of a letter Temperature

13
 Frequency
Distributions and
Their Graphs
 Frequency Distributions
A frequency distribution is a table that shows classes or
intervals of data with a count of the number in each class.
The frequency f of a class is the number of data points in
the class.
Class Frequency,
f

1–4 4
Upper Limits
Lower Limits 5–8 5
9 – 12 3 Frequencies
13 – 16 4
17 – 20 2
 Frequency Distributions
The class width is the distance between lower (or upper)
limits of consecutive classes.

Class Frequency, f
1–4 4
5–1=4 5–8 5
9–5=4 9 – 12 3
13 – 9 = 4 13 – 16 4
17 – 13 = 4 17 – 20 2
The class width is 4.

The range is the difference between the maximum and

minimum data entries.
Constructing a Frequency Distribution
Guidelines
1. Decide on the number of classes to include. The number of
classes should be between 5 and 20; otherwise, it may be
difficult to detect any patterns.
2. Find the class width as follows. Determine the range of the
data, divide the range by the number of classes, and round up
to the next convenient number.
3. Find the class limits. You can use the minimum entry as the
lower limit of the first class. To find the remaining lower limits,
add the class width to the lower limit of the preceding class.
Then find the upper class limits.
4. Make a tally mark for each data entry in the row of the
appropriate class.
5. Count the tally marks to find the total frequency f for each
class.
Constructing a Frequency Distribution
Example:
The following data represents the ages of 30 students in a
statistics class. Construct a frequency distribution that
has five classes.
Ages of Students
18 20 21 27 29 20
19 30 32 19 34 19
24 29 18 37 38 22
30 39 32 44 33 46
54 49 18 51 21 21
Continued.
Constructing a Frequency Distribution
Example continued:

1. The number of classes (5) is stated in the problem.

2. The minimum data entry is 18 and maximum entry is

54, so the range is 36. Divide the range by the number
of classes to find the class width.

Class width = 36 = 7.2 Round up to 8.

5

Continued.
Constructing a Frequency Distribution
Example continued:
3. The minimum data entry of 18 may be used for the
lower limit of the first class. To find the lower class
limits of the remaining classes, add the width (8) to each
lower limit.
The lower class limits are 18, 26, 34, 42, and 50.
The upper class limits are 25, 33, 41, 49, and 57.

4. Make a tally mark for each data entry in the

appropriate class.

5. The number of tally marks for a class is the frequency

for that class.
Continued.
Constructing a Frequency Distribution
Example continued:
Number of
Ages students
Ages of Students
Class Tally Frequency, f
18 – 25 13
26 – 33 8
34 – 41 4
42 – 49 3
Check that the
50 – 57 2 sum equals
the number in
 f  30
the sample.
 Midpoint
The midpoint of a class is the sum of the lower and upper
limits of the class divided by two. The midpoint is
sometimes called the class mark.

Midpoint = (Lower class limit) + (Upper class limit)

2

Class Frequency, f Midpoint

1–4 4 2.5

Midpoint = 1  4  5  2.5
2 2
 Midpoint
Example:
Find the midpoints for the “Ages of Students” frequency
distribution.
Ages of Students
Class Frequency, f Midpoint
18 + 25 = 43
18 – 25 13 21.5
43  2 = 21.5
26 – 33 8 29.5
34 – 41 4 37.5
42 – 49 3 45.5
50 – 57 2 53.5
 f  30
 Cumulative Frequency
The cumulative frequency of a class is the sum of the
frequency for that class and all the previous classes.

Ages of Students
Cumulative
Class Frequency, f Frequency
18 – 25 13 13
26 – 33 +8 21
34 – 41 +4 25
42 – 49 +3 28
Total number
50 – 57 +2 30 of students
 f  30
 Frequency Histogram
A frequency histogram is a bar graph that represents
the frequency distribution of a data set.
1. The horizontal scale is quantitative and measures
the data values.
2. The vertical scale measures the frequencies of the
classes.
3. Consecutive bars must touch.
Class boundaries are the numbers that separate the
classes without forming gaps between them.
The horizontal scale of a histogram can be marked with
either the class boundaries or the midpoints.
 Class Boundaries
Example:
Find the class boundaries for the “Ages of Students” frequency
distribution.
Ages of Students
Class
Class Frequency, f Boundaries
The distance from 18 – 25 13 17.5  25.5
the upper limit of
the first class to the 26 – 33 8 25.5  33.5
lower limit of the 34 – 41 4 33.5  41.5
second class is 1.
42 – 49 3 41.5  49.5
Half this 50 – 57 2 49.5  57.5
distance is 0.5.
 f  30
 Frequency Histogram
Example:
Draw a frequency histogram for the “Ages of Students”
frequency distribution. Use the class boundaries.

14 13 Ages of Students
12
10
8
8

f 6
4
4 3
2 2

0
17.5 25.5 33.5 41.5 49.5 57.5
Broken axis
Age (in years)
 Frequency Polygon
 To draw a frequency polygon, you'll first need a
frequency distribution table.
 Then, calculate the midpoint of each class
interval.
 Plot these midpoints on the horizontal (x) axis
and their corresponding frequencies on the
vertical (y) axis.
 Finally, connect the plotted points with straight
lines to form the polygon.
 Frequency Polygon
A frequency polygon is a line graph that emphasizes the
continuous change in frequencies.

14
Ages of Students
12
10
8 Line is extended
to the x-axis.
f 6
4
2
0
13.5 21.5 29.5 37.5 45.5 53.5 61.5
Broken axis
Age (in years) Midpoints
 Ogive
 To draw an ogive from a frequency table, you
need to first create a cumulative frequency table,
 then plot the upper class boundaries against the
cumulative frequencies, and finally, connect the
plotted points with straight lines.
 Cumulative Frequency Graph
A cumulative frequency graph or ogive, is a line graph
that displays the cumulative frequency of each class at
its upper class boundary.

30 Ages of Students
Cumulative frequency
(portion of students)

24

18
The graph ends
at the upper
12 boundary of the
last class.
6

0
17.5 25.5 33.5 41.5 49.5 57.5
Age (in years)
 Measures of
Central Tendency
 Mean
A measure of central tendency is a value that represents a
typical, or central, entry of a data set. The three most
commonly used measures of central tendency are the
mean, the median, and the mode.

The mean of a data set is the sum of the data entries

divided by the number of entries.

Population mean: μ   x Sample mean: x   x

N n
“mu” “x-bar”
 Mean
Example:
The following are the ages of all seven employees of a
small company:

53 32 61 57 39 44 57
Calculate the population mean.

x 343 Add the ages and

 
N 7 divide by 7.
 49 years

The mean age of the employees is 49 years.

 Median
The median of a data set is the value that lies in the
middle of the data when the data set is ordered. If the
data set has an odd number of entries, the median is the
middle data entry. If the data set has an even number of
entries, the median is the mean of the two middle data
entries.

Example:
Calculate the median age of the seven employees.
53 32 61 57 39 44 57
To find the median, sort the data.
32 39 44 53 57 57 61
The median age of the employees is 53 years.
 Mode
The mode of a data set is the data entry that occurs with
the greatest frequency. If no entry is repeated, the data
set has no mode. If two entries occur with the same
greatest frequency, each entry is a mode and the data set
is called bimodal.
Example:
Find the mode of the ages of the seven employees.
53 32 61 57 39 44 57
The mode is 57 because it occurs the most times.
Mean of a Frequency Distribution
The mean of a frequency distribution for a sample is
approximated by
x  (x  f ) Note that n   f
n
where x and f are the midpoints and frequencies of the classes.

Example:
The following frequency distribution represents the ages
of 30 students in a statistics class. Find the mean of the
frequency distribution.

Continued.
Mean of a Frequency Distribution
Class midpoint

Class x f (x · f )
18 – 25 21.5 13 279.5
26 – 33 29.5 8 236.0
34 – 41 37.5 4 150.0
42 – 49 45.5 3 136.5
50 – 57 53.5 2 107.0
n = 30 Σ = 909.0

x  (x  f ) 
909  30.3
n 30
The mean age of the students is 30.3 years.
Measures of
Variation
 Range
The range of a data set is the difference between the maximum and
minimum date entries in the set.
Range = (Maximum data entry) – (Minimum data entry)

Example:
The following data are the closing prices for a certain stock
on ten successive Fridays. Find the range.

Stock 56 56 57 58 61 63 63 67 67 67

The range is 67 – 56 = 11.

 Deviation
The deviation of an entry x in a population data set is the difference
between the entry and the mean μ of the data set.
Deviation of x = x – μ

Example:
Stock Deviation
The following data are the closing x x–μ
prices for a certain stock on five 56 56 – 61 = – 5
successive Fridays. Find the 58 58 – 61 = – 3
deviation of each price. 61 61 – 61 = 0
63 63 – 61 = 2
The mean stock price is 67 67 – 61 = 6
μ = 305/5 = 61.
Σx = 305 Σ(x – μ) = 0
Variance and Standard Deviation
The population variance of a population data set of N entries is
2
2
Population variance =   (x  μ )
.
N
“sigma
squared”

The population standard deviation of a population data set of N

entries is the square root of the population variance.
2 (x  μ )2
Population standard deviation =     .
N
“sigma”
Finding the Population Standard Deviation

Guidelines
In Words In Symbols
1. Find the mean of the population μ  x
data set. N

2. Find the deviation of each entry. x μ

3. Square each deviation. x  μ2
4. Add to get the sum of squares. SS x   x  μ
2

2
5. Divide by N to get the population  x  μ
variance. 2 
N
6. Find the square root of the 2
 x  μ 
variance to get the population 
N
standard deviation.
Finding the Population Standard Deviation

Example:
The following data are the closing prices for a certain stock on five
successive Fridays. The population mean is 61. Find the population
standard deviation.
Always positive!

Stock Deviation Squared SS2 = Σ(x – μ)2 = 74

x x–μ (x – μ)2
2
56 –5 25  x  μ  74
2    14.8
58 –3 9 N 5
61 0 0 2
63 2 4  x  μ
  14.8  3.8
3.85
67 6 36 N

Σx = 305 Σ(x – μ) = 0 Σ(x – μ)2 = 74

σ  $3.85
Measures of
Position
 Quartiles
 Quartiles split the ranked data into 4 segments with
an equal number of values per segment

25% 25% 25% 25%

Q1 Q2 Q3

 The first quartile, Q1, is the value for which 25% of the
observations are smaller and 75% are larger
 Q2 is the same as the median (50% are smaller, 50% are
larger)
 Only 25% of the observations are greater than the third
quartile

Chap 3-46
 Quartile Formulas

Find a quartile by determining the value in the

appropriate position in the ranked data, where

First quartile position: Q1 = 0.25(n+1)

Second quartile position: Q2 = 0.50(n+1)

(the median position)

Third quartile position: Q3 = 0.75(n+1)

where n is the number of observed values

Chap 3-47
 Quartiles

 Example: Find the first quartile

Sample Ranked Data: 11 12 13 16 16 17 18 21 22

(n = 9)
Q1 = is in the 0.25(9+1) = 2.5 position of the ranked data
so use the value half way between the 2nd and 3rd values,

so Q1 = 12.5

Chap 3-48
 Finding Quartiles
Example:
The quiz scores for 15 students is listed below. Find the first,
second and third quartiles of the scores.
28 43 48 51 43 30 55 44 48 33 45 37 37 42 38

Order the data.

Lower half Upper half

28 30 33 37 37 38 42 43 43 44 45 48 48 51 55

Q1 Q2 Q3
About one fourth of the students scores 37 or less; about one
half score 43 or less; and about three fourths score 48 or less.
 Interquartile Range
The interquartile range (IQR) of a data set is the difference
between the third and first quartiles.
Interquartile range (IQR) = Q3 – Q1.

Example:
The quartiles for 15 quiz scores are listed below. Find the
interquartile range.
Q1 = 37 Q2 = 43 Q3 = 48

(IQR) = Q3 – Q1 The quiz scores in the middle

= 48 – 37 portion of the data set vary by
= 11 at most 11 points.
 Percentiles and Deciles
Percentiles divide an ordered data set into 100 parts. There
are 99 percentiles: P1, P2, P3…P99.

 To find the percentile of ungrouped data,

 first arrange the data in ascending order.
 Then, use the formula:
 Position of kth percentile = (k/100) * (n + 1), where 'k' is
the desired percentile (e.g., 25 for the 25th percentile)
and 'n' is the total number of data points.
Example 1
Let's say you have the following ungrouped data: 10, 12, 15, 18,
20, 22, 25, 28, 30. You want to find the 60th percentile.
Order the data: The data is already ordered.
Calculate the position: Position of 60th percentile = (60/100) *
(9 + 1) = 6.
Find the value: The 6th value in the ordered list is 22.
Therefore, the 60th percentile is 22.

Example 2
If you want to find the 75th percentile of the same data:
Order the data: The data is already ordered.
Calculate the position: Position of 75th percentile = (75/100) *
(9 + 1) = 7.5
Find the value: The 7th value is 25, and the 8th value is 28.
The 7.5th position is halfway between them. Therefore, the
75th percentile is (25 + 28) / 2 = 26.5.
 Deciles
Deciles divide an ordered data set into 10 parts. There are
9 Deciles: D1, D2, D3…D9.

 To find the decile of ungrouped data,

 first arrange the data in ascending order.
 Then, use the formula:
 Position of Dk = (k/10) * (n + 1), where 'k' is the desired
decile (e.g., 4 for the 4th decile) and 'n' is the total
number of data points.
END