Finding the median and quartiles for grouped data

Median for Grouped Data

The median for grouped data can be found either by interpolation or by using a formula.

The formula is
1
𝑛−∑ 𝑓𝑏
Median = 𝐿𝐵 + 𝑤 ( 2
)
𝑓𝑚

where
𝐿𝐵 is the lower boundary or limit of the class containing the median

𝑤 is the width of the median class interval

𝑛 is the total frequency, or the number of values

∑ 𝑓𝑏 is the number of values below LB

𝑓𝑚 is the number of values containing the median

Example 1

In the table below, the median is the 75th value, so it lies in the 5 to 9 class interval.

Cumulative
Time (min) Frequency
frequency
0-4 32 32 ∑ 𝑓𝑏 = 32

The median 5–9 71 103

lies in this 10 – 14 20 123 𝑓𝑚 = 71
interval, 15 – 19 14 137
4.5 to 9.5 20 – 24 10 147
25 - 29 3 150 𝑛 = 150

𝐿𝐵 = the lower boundary of the class interval 5 to 9, which is 4.5

𝑤 = 9.5 – 4.5 = 5

So, using the formula :

1
( ×150)−32
2
Median = 4.5 + 5 ( ) = 7.53 minutes
71

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 Finding the median and quartiles for grouped data
Example 2

Cumulative
Heights (cm) Frequency
frequency

The median 175 – 225 4 4 ∑ 𝑓𝑏 = 4 + 8 + 18

lies in this 226 – 300 8 12

interval, 301 – 350 18 30 𝑓𝑚 = 28
350.5 to 351 – 400 28 58
400.5 401 - 500 7 65 𝑛 = 65

Using the formula :

1
( ×65)−(4+8+18)
2
Median = 350.5 + 50 ( ) = 354.964 … ≈ 355 cm
28

Lower and Upper Quartiles for Grouped Data

1 1
Take the same formula as above, but change the into for the lower quartile, and into
2 4
3
for the upper quartile :
4

1 3
𝑛−∑ 𝑓𝑏 𝑛−∑ 𝑓𝑏
Lower quartile = 𝐿𝐵 + 𝑤 ( 4
) and Upper quartile = 𝐿𝐵 + 𝑤 ( 4
)
𝑓𝑚 𝑓𝑚

where the variables refer to the class interval containing the quartile.

For Example 1 above:

1 1
( ×150)−32 ( ×150)−103
4
Lower quartile = 4.5 + 5 ( 71
) Upper quartile = 9.5 + 5 ( 4
)
and 20

= 4.89 = 11.875

For Example 2 above:

Try the calculations yourself, and check that you get

Lower Quartile = 312.3 and Upper Quartile = 383.982… ≈ 384

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