Mean Formula

The mean of a data set is derived by dividing the total of all data points by the number of data points in the data set. It's a data point in a collection that represents the average of all the data points in the set. The mean is the most popular and widely used approach in statistics for determining the centre of a data set. It's a basic, but crucial, aspect of statistical data analysis. The population mean is what we get when we calculate the average value of a population set. Sometimes, population data is so large that we can't do any analysis on it. As a result, in that scenario, we take a sample and average it. That sample represents the population, and the sample mean is the average of this subset of the data.

Now we will understand what is the formula of mean. It is given below:

Mean = \[\frac{\text{Sum of observations}}{\text{Number of observations}}\]

In this article, we will learn what is the formula of mean and Mean Formula For Ungrouped Data along with solved examples.

It's worth noting that the mean value is the average value in the data set, which will fall between the maximum and minimum values. The mean value will not be the same as the data set's value, but its values are sometimes the same.

Mean Formula for Ungrouped Data

The formula for calculating the mean of ungrouped data is as follows:

Consider x\[_{1}\], x\[_{2}\], x\[_{3}\]...x\[_{n}\] be n observations of a data set, then the mean of these values can be calculated as:

\[\bar{x}\] = \[\frac{\sum x_{i}}{n}\]

Here,

x\[_{i}\] = i\[^{th}\]observation, 1 ≤ i ≤ n

\[\sum\] x\[_{i}\] = Sum of observations

n = Number of observations

Mean Formula for Grouped Data

Depending on the amount of the data, there are three approaches for finding the mean for grouped data. They are as follows:

• Direct Method

• Assumed Mean Method

• Step-deviation Method

Let's look at the formulas for the three approaches listed below:

Step Deviation Method Formula

When the data values are large, the step deviation method formula is used to find the mean. The formula of step deviation method is given by:

Mean \[\bar{x}\] = a + h\[\frac{\sum f_{i} u_{i}}{\sum f_{i}}\]

Here,

a = assumed mean

f\[_{i}\] = frequency of ith class

x\[_{i}\] - a = deviation of ith class

u\[_{i}\] = \[\frac{(x_{i}-a)}{h}\]

Σf\[_{i}\] = N = Total number of observations

x\[_{i}\] = class mark = \[\frac{\text{(upper class limit + lower class limit)}}{2}\]

Direct Method:

Suppose x\[_{1}\], x\[_{2}\], x\[_{3}\]...x\[_{n}\] be n observations with respective frequencies f\[_{1}\], f\[_{2}\], f\[_{3}\]...f\[_{n}\] This means, the observation x\[_{1}\] occurs f\[_{1}\] times,  x\[_{2}\] occurs f\[_{2}\] times, x\[_{3}\] occurs f\[_{3}\] times and so on. As a result, the direct method's mean calculation formula is:

\[\bar{x}\] = \[\frac{f_{1}x_{1} + f_{2}x_{2} + f_{3}x_{3}+...+f_{n}x_{n}}{f_{1}+f_{2}+f_{3}+...+f_{n}}\]

\[\sum\]f\[_{i}\]x\[_{i}\] = Sum of all the observations

\[\sum\]f\[_{i}\] = Sum of frequencies or observations

When the number of observations is small, this strategy is utilised.

Assumed Mean Method Formula

We use this method to assume a value as the mean (namely a). This value is used to calculate the deviations that the formula is based on. In addition, the information will be presented as a frequency distribution table with classifications. As a result, the formula for calculating the mean in the assumed mean technique is:

Mean (\[\bar{x}\]) = a + \[\frac{\sum f_{i} d_{i}}{\sum f_{i}}\]

Here,

a = assumed mean

f\[_{i}\] = frequency of ith class

d\[_{i}\] = x\[_{i}\] - a = deviation of i\[^{th}\] class

\[\sum\]f\[_{i}\] = N =  Total number of observations

x\[_{i}\] = class mark = \[\frac{\text{(upper class limit + lower class limit)}}{\text{2}}\]

Solved Examples:

Question 1: Find the mean of the following distribution, which contains the quiz results of the students.

Solution:

We will create a table to find the sum:

Mean = (∑f\[_{i}\]x\[_{i}\])/ ∑f\[_{i}\]

= 2878/100

= 28.78

As a result, the distribution's mean is 28.78.

Question 2: The table below shows the results of an examination taken by 110 students.

Find the mean marks of the students using the assumed mean method.

Answer: We will create a table to calculate x\[_{i}\], d\[_{i}\] and f\[_{i}\], d\[_{i}\].

Assumed mean = a = 25

Mean of the data:

\[\bar{x}\] = a + \[\frac{\sum f_{i} d_{i}}{f_{i}}\]

= 25 + (-10/ 110)

= 25 -( 1/11)

= (275-1)/11

= 274/11

=24.9

Hence, the mean marks of the students = 24.9.

Conclusion

To conclude the above discussion, we can say that the mean can be used to get an overall idea or picture of the data set. For a data collection containing numbers that are close together, the mean is the best option. When the form of the sample is adequate, the mean should be utilised. The mean is a reasonable summary of the average when the data is regularly distributed. We have learned about the step deviation method formula and terms and different mean method formulas.