Page 96 - DCOM203_DMGT204_QUANTITATIVE_TECHNIQUES_I

Unit 6: Measures of Central Tendency

Notes
6.7 Harmonic Mean
6.7.1 Calculation of Harmonic Mean
6.7.2 Weighted Harmonic Mean

6.7.3 Merits and Demerits of Harmonic Mean
6.8 Summary
6.9 Keywords
6.10 Review Questions
6.11 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:

Define the term average and state its functions and characteristics.
Write the uses, merits and demerits of mean,median and mode
Tell about Mathematical Averages-AM,GM and HM
Establish the relationship amongst mean, median and mode

Establish the relationship amongst AM, GM and HM

Introduction

Summarization of the data is a necessary function of any statistical analysis. As a first step in this
direction, the huge mass of unwieldy data is summarized in the form of tables and frequency
distributions. In order to bring the characteristics of the data into sharp focus, these tables and
frequency distributions need to be summarized further. A measure of central tendency or an
average is very essential and an important summary measure in any statistical analysis.

6.1 Average

The average of a distribution has been defined in various ways. Some of the important definitions
are:
“An average is an attempt to find one single figure to describe the whole of figures”.
— Clark and Sekkade

“Average is a value which is typical or representative of a set of data”.
— Murray R. Spiegal
“An average is a single value within the range of the data that is used to represent all the values
in the series. Since an average is somewhere within the range of data it is sometimes called a
measure of central value”.
— Croxton and Cowden

“A measure of central tendency is a typical value around which other figures congregate”.
— Sipson and Kafka

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