Question

Calculate the mean deviation about median age for the age distribution of 100 persons given below:

Age	Number
16-20	5
21-25	6
26-30	12
31-35	14
36-40	26
41-45	12
46-50	16
51-55	9

Answer 1

The given data is not continuous. Therefore, it has to be converted into continuous frequency distribution by subtracting 0.5 from the lower limit and adding 0.5 to the upper limit of each class interval.

The table is formed as follows.

Age	Number fi	Cumulative frequency (c.f.)	Mid-point xi	|xi – Med.|	fi |xi – Med.|
15.5-20.5	5	5	18	20	100
20.5-25.5	6	11	23	15	90
25.5-30.5	12	23	28	10	120
30.5-35.5	14	37	33	5	70
35.5-40.5	26	63	38	0	0
40.5-45.5	12	75	43	5	60
45.5-50.5	16	91	48	10	160
50.5-55.5	9	100	53	15	135
	100				735

The class interval containing theor 50^th item is 35.5 – 40.5.

Therefore, 35.5 – 40.5 is the median class.

It is known that,

Here, l = 35.5, C = 37, f = 26, h = 5, and N = 100

Thus, mean deviation about the median is given by,