Find the median of the following frequency distribution:
Class | 10-20 | 20-30 | 30-40 | 40-50 | 50-60 | 60-70 | 70-80 | 80-90 |
Frequency | 9 | 11 | 15 | 24 | 19 | 9 | 8 | 5 |
Here, we have grouped data given in the table. We need to find cumulative frequency of the data, which will predict our answer.
So,
CLASS | FREQUENCY (f) | CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY (cf) |
10 – 20 | 9 | 9 |
20 – 30 | 11 | 9 + 11 = 20 |
30 – 40 | 15 | 20 + 15 = 35 |
40 – 50 | 24 | 35 + 24 = 59 ← |
50 – 60 | 19 | 59 + 19 = 78 |
60 – 70 | 9 | 78 + 9 = 87 |
70 – 80 | 8 | 87 + 8 = 95 |
80 – 90 | 5 | 95 + 5 = 100 |
TOTAL | ∑f = n = 100 |
We have added up all the values of the frequency in the second column and have got,
Total = n = 100
Now, we just need to find the value of n/2. So,
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Now, look up for a value in the cumulative frequency just greater than 50.
We have, 59.
Corresponding to this value of cumulative frequency, we can say that median class is 40 – 50.
That is,
Median class = 40 – 50
∴ we have almost everything we require to calculate median.
Median is given by,

Where,
l = lower limit of the median class = 40
n = Total number of observation (sum of frequencies) = 100
cf = cumulative frequency of the class preceding the median class = 35
f = frequency of the median class = 24
c = class size (class sizes are equal) = 10
Putting the values, l = 40, n/2 = 50, cf = 35, f = 24 and c = 10 in the given formula of median, we get
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⇒ Median = 40 + 6.25
⇒ Median = 46.25
Thus, the median of the data is 46.25.
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