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Mean

There are several types of means in statistics used to calculate central tendencies, including arithmetic mean, geometric mean, harmonic mean, weighted mean, and combined mean. The arithmetic mean is calculated by adding all values and dividing by the total number of values. The geometric mean uses the nth root of the product of values. The harmonic mean is calculated as the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean of the reciprocals. Weighted mean assigns weights to values to account for their relative importance. Combined mean finds the single arithmetic mean of multiple data sets.

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333 views

Mean

There are several types of means in statistics used to calculate central tendencies, including arithmetic mean, geometric mean, harmonic mean, weighted mean, and combined mean. The arithmetic mean is calculated by adding all values and dividing by the total number of values. The geometric mean uses the nth root of the product of values. The harmonic mean is calculated as the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean of the reciprocals. Weighted mean assigns weights to values to account for their relative importance. Combined mean finds the single arithmetic mean of multiple data sets.

Uploaded by

Ravi Sharma
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Mean and its types

In statistics, the mean is the mathematical average of a set of numbers. The average is calculated by adding up two or more scores and dividing the total by the number of scores. The mean, commonly called the average, is a mathematically computed value which represents a central value of a given data set. Consider the following number set: 2, 4, 6, 9, 12. The average is calculated in the following manner: 2 + 4 + 6 + 9 + 12 = 33 / 5 = 6.6. So the average of the number set is 6.6. Dispersion graph of mean:

There are following types of mean in statistics: Arithmetic mean Geometric mean Harmonic mean

Weighted mean Combined mean

Arithmetic mean:

Definition of Arithmetic Mean


Arithmetic Mean of a set of numbers is the sum of the numbers divided by the number of items in the set.

More about Arithmetic Mean


Arithmetic mean is also called as average. Arithmetic mean or average of a set of

numbers is given by = . Example of Arithmetic Mean Arithmetic mean of three numbers 3, 6, and 7 can be calculated as: Arithmetic mean = = = = 5.33

The advantages of AM are as follows:


Arithmetic means are strictly defined. Arithmetic means are easy to understand and easy to evaluate. Arithmetic means are based upon all the observations. Arithmetic means are conformable to algebraic treatment. Among all the averages, arithmetic means are least affected by fluctuations of sampling. Geometric mean:

Geometric Mean - Definition:


It is defined as the nth root of the products of the n set of observations.

Formulas to be used:
The geometric mean G, of n observations yi : i = 1to n is provided as: G = (y1, yn)1/n

Geometric Mean for ungrouped data:


The geometric mean for an ungrouped data can be calculated using the following formula: G = Antilog (1 / n log yi) where i = 1 to n

Geometric Mean for frequency distribution:


The geometric mean for the frequency distribution can be estimated using the given formula: G = Antilog (1 / N fi log yi) where N = fi, i = 1 to n

Geometric Mean for Continuous or Grouped data:


The geometric mean for the continuous or grouped data can be calculated using the below formula: G = Antilog (1 / N fi log yi) where N = fi, i = 1 to n and x takes the value corresponding to the mid-point of the class intervals.

Geometric Mean of the Combined Group:


Let n1 and n2 be the sizes and G1 and G2 be the geometric means of 2 series respectively. Then the geometric mean of the combined group is given by: Log G = (n1 log G1 + n2 log G2)/( n1 + n2 ) (or) G = Antilog [(n1 log G1 + n2 log G2)/ (n1 + n2)]

Merits of Geometric Mean:


The following are the merits of the geometric mean: It is strictly defined

It is grounded upon all the values. It is worthy for further mathematical treatment. It is not affected by sampling fluctuations. It gives relatively more weight to small items.

Uses of Geometric Mean:


Geometric Mean is used to calculate the rate of interest and population growth. Geometric Mean is used in the construction of index numbers.

Harmonic mean:
Harmonic mean is most commonly preferred when the data is given in terms of speed (e.g. km/hour), rate (e.g. kg/rupee) etc. The harmonic mean is defined as the reciprocal of arithmetic mean of reciprocals of the items in a given series. If X1, X2, X3, .., Xn are the observed values then the harmonic mean (usually denoted as X bar h) of the observed sample is defined as: The harmonic mean is always the least of the three means, while the arithmetic mean is always the greatest of the three and the geometric mean is always in between.

Weighted Harmonic Mean


If a set of weight w1, ..., wn is associated to the dataset x1, ..., xn, the weighted harmonic mean is defined by The harmonic mean is the special case where all of the weights are equal to 1.

Harmonic mean of two numbers


For the special case of just two numbers x1 and x2, the harmonic mean can be written

Relations between arithmetic mean geometric mean and harmonic mean


In this special case, the harmonic mean is related to the arithmetic mean A = (x1 + x2) / 2 and the by So geometric mean , meaning the two numbers geometric mean equals the geometric mean of their arithmetic and harmonic means.

Harmonic Mean Example


To find the Harmonic Mean of 1,2,3,4,5. Step 1: Calculate the total number of values. N=5 Step 2: Now find Harmonic Mean using the above formula. = 5/(1/1+1/2+1/3+1/4+1/5) = 5/(1+0.5+0.33+0.25+0.2) = 5/2.28 So, Harmonic Mean = 2.19

Weighted mean:
While evaluating the arithmetic means we assume that all the items in the distribution have equal preference. But in daily life this may not be possible. If some items in the distribution are more important than others, then this point must be remembered, so that the average calculated is a proper representative of the distribution. In these cases, proper weightage should be given to various items. Data values with higher weights contribute more to the weighted mean than data values with smaller weighted mean. Let w, be the weight attached to the item xi, i = 1 to k. Then we define

Weighted Arithmetic Mean = wi xi / wi where i = 1 to k It may be noted that the formula this mean is same as that of the formula of a mean with fi, (i = 1 to k), the frequencies substituted by wi, weights. Reasons for the usage of weighted mean:

The following are some of the reasons for why people want to use a weighted mean:
Each data value may actually depict a value that is used by many people in the sample. The weight, then the number of people involved with that value. The sample may forcefully over represent or under represent certain parts of the population. To replace balance, less weight might placed on the over represented parts of the population and greater weight on the less represented parts of the population. Some of the values in the sample data might be known to be more variable than other values. In such cases, greater weight should be placed on those data values known to have greater precision.

Summary:
Thus, weighted mean is a mean in which every single item is being averaged is multiplied by a number based on the item's relative importance. The result is totaled and divided by the sum of the weights. These averages are used extensively in descriptive analysis such as index numbers.

Combined mean:
The arithmetic mean of several data sets may be combined into a single arithmetic mean for combined sets of data. For two sets of data the combined mean is:

Where X is the number of items of first group and Y is of second group. Where nx is number of items of first group and ny is the number of second group.

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