Struggling to understand the central tendency and the measures of central tendency? Congratulations, you have reached just the right place. Through this article, we will learn all about central tendencies, their measures and applications. So make sure you read till the end of the article so that you not only understand the central tendencies and their measures better but also take advantage of the knowledge while dealing with problems framed around the measures of central tendencies.

Now, let’s cut the chatter and straight dive into the concept of central tendencies and their measures.

The Definition & Purpose Of Central Tendencies

From the points below find out the definition of central tendencies and the purpose of their usage.

• The central tendencies are a measure used in the studies of statistics.
• They present a single value of an entire lengthy dataset or distribution of values.
• Its purpose is to shorten the representation of various values to one accurate and precise description.

All The Types Of Measures Of Central Tendencies

The central tendency for any dataset or distribution can be established by using three measures called the measures of the central tendencies. The names of the measures are mentioned below –

Mean

• Mean value is the average of all the values in a dataset. To find out the mean one has to take the sum of the values mentioned in the dataset and later divide it by the number of all the values.
• The value that comes as a result is known as the arithmetic mean of all the values in the dataset. However, there are other ways one can find the central tendency through this way, these are geometric mean, harmonic and weighted mean.
• If all the values distributed in a dataset are the same the mean values come the same otherwise different.

Mode

• The mode is that value in the dataset that is frequently repeated. Sometimes the dataset has a mode value, sometimes it does not.
• Finding out the mode is the best way to find the central tendency in case there are categorical data.

Median

• Median is said to be the middle value in a dataset when the values are arranged in an ascending or descending order.
• When the dataset has an even number of values, then the median value of the dataset can be estimated by finding the mean of the two values in the middle.

Midrange

• This type of measure is rarely used in practical statistical analysis to find out central tendencies, as it lacks efficiency.
• The midrange measures dismiss all middle points, and lack robustness, as outliers change it significantly. However, it is easy to comprehend and compute.

Properties of Measures Of Central Tendencies

The points cited below will help find out which measure to be used for which type of distribution of values or a dataset.

• In case one has symmetrical distribution of continuous data in a dataset, all three types of measures of central tendencies can be used.
• However, learners prefer finding the mean because it applies to all the values in the distribution or dataset.
• In a skewed allotment, the median is considered to be the best measure to find out the central tendency.
• If the original data is available, then in that case both the median and mode can be the best preference for measuring the central tendency.
• As stated above if there is categorical data, then the mode is the best pick to find the central tendency.

Furthermore, find out the concept of coefficient of variation from precise and to the point notes by experienced experts and learners.