Measures of Position

by Hj Ahmad Zawawi bin Abdullah

Measures of Position
Measures of position are used to describe the relative location of an observation Quartiles and percentiles are two of the most popular measures of position An additional measure of central tendency, the midquartile, is defined using quartiles Quartiles are part of the 5-number summary

Quartiles
Quartiles: Values of the variable that divide the ranked data into quarters; each set of data has three quartiles 1. The first quartile, Q1, is a number such that at most 25% of the data are smaller in value than Q1 and at most 75% are larger 2. The second quartile, Q2, is the median 3. The third quartile, Q3, is a number such that at most 75% of the data are smaller in value than Q3 and at most 25% are larger
Ranked data, increasing order

25%
L

25%
Q1 Q2

25%
Q3

25%
H

Median of Grouped Data

Median = L + (N s ) x c 2 f L = LCL of median class (= 69.5) N = f = total frequency (= 20) s = total frequency before median class (= 9) f = frequency of median class (= 5)

c = class size = (74.5 69.5 = 5) Median = 69.5 + (20 9) x (74.5 69.5) = 70.5 2 5

Class Interval 50 54 55 59 60 64 65 69

Class Limit

Class Midpoint (m) 52 57 62 67 72 77 82 87

Frequency (less than UCL) (f) 1 1 2 5 5 2 2 2

cf 1 2 4 9 14 16 18 20

49.5 54.5 54.5 59.5 59.5 64.5 64.5 69.5 69.5 74.5 74.5 79.5 79.5 84.5 84.5 89.5

Median 70 74 Class
75 79 80 85 85 89

Median = 69.5 + (20 9) x (74.5 69.5) = 70.5 2 5

Second Quartile Q2 = Median

Q2
=

Median = L + (N s ) x c 2 f

L = LCL of median class Q2 (= 69.5) N = f = total frequency (= 20) s = total frequency before median classQ2 (= 9) f = frequency of median class Q2 (= 5)

c = class size (=74.5 69.5 = 5) Q2 = 69.5 + (20 9) x (74.5 69.5) = 70.5 2 5

First Quartile Q1
Q1 = L + ( N s ) x c 4 f L = LCL of Q1 class (= 64.5) N = f = total frequency (= 20) s = total frequency before Q1 class (= 4) f = frequency of Q1 class (= 5)

c = class size (= 69.5 64.5 = 5) Q1 = 64.5 + (20 4) x (69.5 64.5) = 65.5 4 5

Class Interval 50 54 55 59 60 64

Class Limit

Class Midpoint (m) 52 57 62 67 72 77 82 87

Frequency (less than UCL) (f) 1 1 2 5 5 2 2 2

cf 1 2 4 9 14 16 18 20

49.5 54.5 54.5 59.5 59.5 64.5 64.5 69.5 69.5 74.5 74.5 79.5 79.5 84.5 84.5 89.5

Q1 Class

65 69 70 74 75 79 80 85 85 89

Q1 = 64.5 + (20 4) x (69.5 64.5) = 65.5 4 5

Third Quartile Q3
Q3 = L + (3N s ) x c 4 f L = LCL of Q3 class (=74.5) N = f = total frequency (=20) s = total frequency before Q3 class (=14) f = frequency of Q3 class (= 2)

c = class size (=79.5 74.5 = 5) Q3 = 74.5 + (3x20 14) x (79.5 74.5) = 76.0 4 2

Class Interval 50 54 55 59 60 64 65 69 70 74

Class Limit

Class Midpoint (m) 52 57 62 67 72 77 82 87

Frequency (less than UCL) (f) 1 1 2 5 5 2 2 2

cf 1 2 4 9 14 16 18 20

49.5 54.5 54.5 59.5 59.5 64.5 64.5 69.5 69.5 74.5 74.5 79.5 79.5 84.5 84.5 89.5

Q3 Class

75 79 80 85 85 89

Q3 = 74.5 + (3x20 14) x (79.5 74.5) = 76.0 4 2

Percentiles
Percentiles: Values of the variable that divide a set of ranked data into 100 equal subsets; each set of data has 99 percentiles. The kth percentile, Pk, is a value such that at most k% of the data is smaller in value than Pk and at most (100 k)% of the data is larger.
at most k %
L

at most (100 - k )% Pk
H

Notes:

The 1st quartile and the 25th percentile are the same: Q1 = P25 The median, the 2nd quartile, and the 50th percentile are x = Q2 = P50 all the same: ~

Percentiles

1%
P1

1%
P2

1%
P3 P97

1%
P98

1%
P99

1%

Pk = the

kN th value 100

Percentile Pk of Ungrouped Data

Procedure for finding Pk:
1. Rank the n observations, lowest to highest 2. Compute A = (nk)/100 3. If A is an integer:

d(Pk) = A.5 (depth) Pk is halfway between the value of the data in the Ath position and the value of the next data

If A is a fraction: d(Pk) = B, the next larger integer

Pk is the value of the data in the Bth position

Example
Example: The following data represents the pH levels of a random sample of swimming pools in a town. Find: 1) the first quartile, 2) the third quartile, and 3) the 37th percentile:
5.6 6.0 6.7 7.0 5.6 6.1 6.8 7.3 5.8 6.2 6.8 7.4 5.9 6.3 6.8 7.4 6.0 6.4 6.9 7.5

Solutions:

1) k = 25: (20) (25) / 100 = 5,

depth = 5.5,

Q1 = 6

2) k = 75: (20) (75) / 100 = 15, depth = 15.5, Q3 = 6.95 3) k = 37: (20) (37) / 100 = 7.4, depth = 8, P37 = 6.2

Percentile of Ungrouped Data

Example
k th percentile, Pk = value at 53 58 68 73 75 76 79

kN position 100

80 85 88 91 99 at position 7.44

kN 62 (12 ) Depth of 62th percentile = 100 = 100

P62 = 62 th percentile =

79 + 80 2

= 79.5

62% lies below 79.5 or 38% is above 79.5.

Percentile Pk of Grouped Data

Pk = L + (kN s ) x c 100 f L = LCL of Pk class N = f = total frequency s = total frequency before Pk class f = frequency of Pk class

c = class size Pk = L + (kxN s) x c = 100 f

Percentile Pk
X 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 f 1 1 3 5 9 8 17 23 24 18 10 3 1 0 2 N = 125 cf 125 124 123 120 115 106 98 81 58 34 16 6 3 2 2 cf % 100 99 98 96 92 85 78 65 46 27 13 5 3 2 2 P25 = L + kN - cf f

= 28.5 + 0.85 P25 = 29.35

k = 25/100

Percentile P25 = Quartile Q1

P25 = Q1 = L + (N s ) x c 4 f L = LCL of class P25 N = f = total frequency s = total frequency before class P25 f = frequency of class P25

c = class size P25 = 64.5 + (50 3) x (64.5 59.5) = 4 10

Percentile P50 = Quartile Q2 = Median

P50 = Q2 = Median = L + (N s ) x c 2 f L = LCL of median class P50 N = f = total frequency s = total frequency before median class P50 f = frequency of median class P50

c = class size P50 = 69.5 + (50 13) x (74.5 69.5) = 72.5 2 20

Percentile P75 = Quartile Q3

P75 = Q3 = L + (3N s ) x c 4 f L = LCL of class P75 N = f = total frequency s = total frequency before class P75 f = frequency of class P75

c = class size P75 = 74.5 + (3x50 33) x (74.5 69.5) = 4 15

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Midquartile
Midquartile: The numerical value midway between the first and third quartile: Q +Q midquartile = 1 2 3 Example: Find the midquartile for the 20 pH values in the previous example: Q + Q3 6 + 6.95 12.95 = = = 6.475 midquartile = 1 2 2 2 Note:The mean, median, midrange, and midquartile are all measures of central tendency. They are not necessarily equal. Can you think of an example when they would be the same value?

5-Number Summary
5-Number Summary: The 5-number summary is composed of: 1. L, the smallest value in the data set 2. Q1, the first quartile (also P25) x , the median (also P50 and 2nd quartile) 3. ~ 4. Q3, the third quartile (also P75) 5. H, the largest value in the data set Notes: The 5-number summary indicates how much the data is spread out in each quarter The interquartile range is the difference between the first and third quartiles. It is the range of the middle 50% of the data

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Box-and-Whisker Display
Box-and-Whisker Display: A graphic representation of the 5-number summary:
The five numerical values (smallest, first quartile, median, third quartile, and largest) are located on a scale, either vertical or horizontal The box is used to depict the middle half of the data that lies between the two quartiles The whiskers are line segments used to depict the other half of the data One line segment represents the quarter of the data that is smaller in value than the first quartile The second line segment represents the quarter of the data that is larger in value that the third quartile

Example
Example: A random sample of students in a sixth grade class was selected. Their weights are given in the table below. Find the 5-number summary for this data and construct a boxplot: 63 89 99 Solution:
63 L 85 Q1 92 ~ x 99 Q3 112 H

64 90 99

76 76 81 83 85 86 91 92 93 93 93 94 99 101 108 109 112

88 97

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Boxplot for Weight Data

Weights from Sixth Grade Class

60

70

80

90
Weight

100

110

Q1

~ x

Q3

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