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Describing Data_Frequency Distribution

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Bikash Barua
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31 views15 pages

Describing Data_Frequency Distribution

Uploaded by

Bikash Barua
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Describing Data: Frequency Tables,

Frequency Distributions
and Graphic Presentation
Constructing Frequency Tables

Frequency table is the grouping of qualitative data into


mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive classes
showing the number of observations in each class

Frequency
Steak Number
Chosen Tally
1 IIII 4
2 IIIII 5
3 II 2
4 IIIII I 6
5 III 3
Relative Class Frequencies

A relative frequency captures the relationship between a


class frequency and the total number of observations.

Frequency Relative
Steak
Chosen Number Frequency
1 4 4/20 = .2
2 5 5/20 = .25
3 2 2/20 = .1
4 6 6/20 = .3
5 3 3/20 = .15
What is Frequency Distribution

A Frequency Distribution is a grouping of quantitative


data into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive
categories showing the number of observations in each
class.

Constructing a frequency distribution involves:


Determining the question to be addressed
Collecting raw data
Organizing data (frequency distribution)
Presenting data (graph)
Drawing conclusions
Constructing a Frequency Distribution

Class Midpoint
A point that divides a class into two equal parts. This is
the average of the upper and lower class limits.

Class Frequency
The number of observations in each class.

Class interval
The class interval is obtained by subtracting the lower
limit of a class from the lower limit of the next class. The
class intervals should be equal.
Step One: Decide on the number of classes using the
formula
2k > n

where k=number of classes


n=number of observations

Step Two: Determine the class interval or width using


the formula

i> H–L
k
where H=highest value, L=lowest value
Step 3: Set the individual class limits

Class Midpoint: find the midpoint of each interval,


use the following formula:

Upper limit + lower limit


2

Step 4: Tally the data into the classes and determine


the number of observations in each class.
EXAMPLE 1

Midland National Bank selected a sample of 40 student checking


accounts. Below are their end-of-the-month balances.

Tally the data into a frequency distribution and present a


brief description about the data distribution.
Graphic Presentation of a Frequency
Distribution

The three commonly used graphic forms are:

Histograms
Frequency Polygons
Cumulative distributions
Histogram

A Histogram is a graph in which the class midpoints or


limits are marked on the horizontal axis and the class
frequencies on the vertical axis.

The class frequencies are represented by the heights


of the bars and the bars are drawn adjacent to each
other.
Frequency Polygon

A Frequency Polygon consists of line segments


connecting the points formed by the class midpoint and
the class frequency.

Cumulative Frequency Distribution (Ogive)


A Cumulative Frequency Distribution or Ogive is
used to determine how many or what proportion of the
data values are below or above a certain value.
To create a cumulative frequency polygon, scale the
upper limit of each class along the X-axis and the
corresponding cumulative frequencies along the Y-axis.
EXAMPLE 2

Midland National Bank selected a sample of 40 student checking


accounts. Below are their end-of-the-month balances.

a. The bank considers any student with an ending balance of $400


or more a “preferred customer.” Estimate the percentage of
preferred customers.
b. The bank is also considering a service charge to the lowest 10
percent of the ending balances. What would you recommend as
the cutoff point between those who have to pay a service
charge and those who do not?
Graphic Presentation of Qualitative Data
Line graphs

Line graphs are typically used to show the change or


trend in a variable over time.

U.S. median age by gender


Males
40 Females
Median Age

35
30
25
Bar Chart
A Bar Chart can be used to depict any of the levels of
measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio).

10000
8900 8900
# unemployed/100,000
9000 8200
8000 7300
6700
7000
6000 5400 Atlanta
5000 Boston
4000 Chicago
3000 Los Angeles
2000 New York
1000 Washington
0
1 2 3 4 5 6
Cities
Pie Chart
A Pie Chart is useful for illustrating nominal level data. It
is used to display a relative frequency distribution. A
circle is divided proportionally to the relative frequency
and portions of the circle are allocated for the different
groups.
6.50%
18.50%
4.50%
Nike
Adidas
Reebok
24.50% Asics
Other
46%

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