5.2
Measuring Distributions (Mean, Median, Range, Iqr, Mode)
July 9, 2025
Maryam Syed
2
Min Read
AI Summary
Measuring distributions means using values like mean, median, mode, range, and interquartile range (IQR) to describe the center, spread, and patterns in a data set. These measures help summarize key features such as the average, the middle value, how spread out the numbers are, and which number appears most often.
Measuring Distributions (mean, median, range, IQR, mode)
Measuring distributions means calculating different values that describe the data set. In simpler words, it is finding the average, middle, spread, and most frequent number in data.
Methods
Mean: Add all numbers, divide by how many numbers.
Median: Middle number when data is in order.
Mode: Number that appears most often.
Range: Biggest number minus smallest number.
IQR (Interquartile Range): Upper quartile minus lower quartile (shows spread of middle 50%).
Example
Data: 1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7
Mean: (1+3+4+4+5+7)/6 = 24/6 = 4
Median: Middle of 4 and 4 4
Mode: 4 (appears most)
Range: 7 - 1 = 6 (just subtracting the biggest number by the smallest)
IQR:
Lower quartile (Q1) = 3
Upper quartile (Q3) = 5
IQR = 5 - 3 = 2