Q8 of 43 Page 293

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,




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





Median = 40 + 6.25


Median = 46.25


Thus, the median of the data is 46.25.


More from this chapter

All 43 →