NCERT Solutions Class 11, Economics, Statistics for Economics, Chapter- 5, Measures of Central Tendency
1. Which average would be suitable in the following cases?
(i) Average size of readymade garments.
(ii) Average intelligence of students in a class.
(iii) Average production in a factory per shift.
(iv) Average wage in an industrial concern.
(v) When the sum of absolute deviations from average is least.
(vi) When quantities of the variable are in ratios.
(vii) In case of open-ended frequency distribution.
Solution:
(i) Mode: Average size of readymade garments should be the size for which demand is the maximum. As the modal value represents the value with the highest frequency should be taken as the average size to be produced.
(ii) Median: It is the middlemost term of the series. Therefore, the Median will be the best measure to calculate the average intelligence of students in a class as it will give the average intelligence such that there is an equal number of students above and below this average. It will not be affected by extreme values.
(iii) Arithmetic Mean: The average production in a factory per shift can best be calculated by arithmetic mean as it will acquires all types of fluctuations in production during the shifts.
(iv) Arithmetic Mean: Arithmetic mean will be the most suitable measure to calculate average wages. It is calculated by dividing the sum of the wages of all the workers by the total number of workers in the industrial concern. It gives a fair idea of the average wage bill taking into account all the workers.
(v) Arithmetic Mean: The algebraic sum of the deviations of values about the arithmetic mean is zero. Hence, when the sum of absolute deviations from the average is the least, then mean could be used to calculate the average.
(vi) Median: Median will be the most suitable measure when the variables are in ratios as it is least affected by the extreme values.
(vii) Median: Median is the most suitable measure because it can be easily computed even in an open-ended frequency distribution and will not get affected by extreme values.
2. Indicate the most appropriate alternative from the multiple choices provided against each question.
(i) The most suitable average for qualitative measurement is:
(a) arithmetic mean
(b) median
(c) mode
(d) geometric mean
(e) none of the above
Solution:
(b) median
Median is the most relevant average for qualitative measurement because it divides a series into two equal parts representing the average qualitative measure without being affected by extreme values.
(ii) Which average is affected most by the presence of extreme items?
(a) median
(b) mode
(c) arithmetic mean
(d) none of the above
Solution:
(c) arithmetic mean
Arithmetic mean is mostly affected by the presence of extreme items. It is easily affected by extreme values. The value of the arithmetic mean may not figure out at all in the series.
(iii) The algebraic sum of deviation of a set of n values from A.M. is:
(a) n
(b) 0
(c) 1
(d) none of these
Solution:
(b) 0
The algebraic sum of deviation of a set of n values from A.M. is zero. This is one of the mathematical properties of the arithmetic mean.
3. Comment whether the following statements are true or false.
(i) The sum of deviation of items from median is zero.
(ii) An average alone is not enough to compare series.
(iii) Arithmetic mean is a positional value.
(iv) Upper quartile is the low est value of top 25% of items.
(v) Median is unduly affected by extreme observations.
Solution:
(i) False
The mathematical property stated here applies to the arithmetic mean and not to the median.
(ii) True
The average is not enough to compare the series as it does not explain the scope of deviation of different items from the central tendency and the difference in the frequency of values. These are measured by the measures of dispersion.
(iii) False
The given statement is false as arithmetic mean is not a positional value, but median and mode are because the calculation of them is based on the position of the items.
(iv) True
The upper quartile also called the third quartile has 75% of the items below it and 25% of the items above it.
(v) False
Median is a positional average as it is calculated by observation of a series and not by extreme values. Hence, arithmetic mean is unduly affected by extreme observations.