Question 15 Marks
The heights (in cm) of $50$ students of a class are given below:
Find the median height.
| Height (in cm) | $156$ | $154$ | $155$ | $151$ | $157$ | $152$ | $153$ |
| Number of students | $8$ | $4$ | $10$ | $6$ | $7$ | $3$ | $12$ |
Answer
View full question & answer→Arranging in order and then preparing its cumulative frequency table:
Here, number of terms $(N) = 50$ which is even
$\text{Median}=\frac{1}{2}\Big\{\frac{1}{2}\text{th term}+\Big(\frac{\text{n}}{2}+1\Big)\text{term}\Big\}$
$=\frac{1}{2}\Big\{\frac{50}{2}\text{th term}+\Big(\frac{50}{2}+1\Big)\text{term}\Big\}$
$=\frac{1}{2}\{25\text{th term}+26\text{th term}\}$
$\frac{1}{2}\{154+155\}\\\ \{\therefore\ \text{Value of 25th}=154\ \text{value of}\ 26\ \text{to}\ 35=155\}$
$\frac{1}{2}\times309=154.5\text{cm}$
$\text{Hence median }=154.5\text{cm}$
| Height (in cm) (x) | Number of students (f) | c.f |
| $151$ | $6$ | $6$ |
| $152$ | $3$ | $9$ |
| $153$ | $12$ | $21$ |
| $154$ | $4$ | $25$ |
| $155$ | $10$ | $35$ |
| $156$ | $8$ | $43$ |
| $157$ | $7$ | $50$ |
$\text{Median}=\frac{1}{2}\Big\{\frac{1}{2}\text{th term}+\Big(\frac{\text{n}}{2}+1\Big)\text{term}\Big\}$
$=\frac{1}{2}\Big\{\frac{50}{2}\text{th term}+\Big(\frac{50}{2}+1\Big)\text{term}\Big\}$
$=\frac{1}{2}\{25\text{th term}+26\text{th term}\}$
$\frac{1}{2}\{154+155\}\\\ \{\therefore\ \text{Value of 25th}=154\ \text{value of}\ 26\ \text{to}\ 35=155\}$
$\frac{1}{2}\times309=154.5\text{cm}$
$\text{Hence median }=154.5\text{cm}$