Year 8 Interactive Maths - Second Edition
Frequency and Frequency Tables
The frequency of a particular data value is the number of times the data value occurs.
For example, if four students have a score of 80 in mathematics, and then the score of 80 is said to have a frequency of 4. The frequency of a data value is often represented by f.
A frequency table is constructed by arranging collected data values in ascending order of magnitude with their corresponding frequencies.
Example 5
The marks awarded for an assignment set for a Year 8 class of 20 students were as follows:
6 7 5 7 7 8 7 6 9 7
4 10 6 8 8 9 5 6 4 8
Present this information in a frequency table.
Solution:
To construct a frequency table, we proceed as follows:
Step 1:
Construct a table with three columns. The first column shows what is being arranged in ascending order (i.e. the marks). The lowest mark is 4. So, start from 4 in the first column as shown below.
Step 2:
Go through the list of marks. The first mark in the list is 6, so put a tally mark against 6 in the second column. The second mark in the list is 7, so put a tally mark against 7 in the second column. The third mark in the list is 5, so put a tally mark against 5 in the third column as shown below.
We continue this process until all marks in the list are tallied.
Step 3:
Count the number of tally marks for each mark and write it in third column. The finished frequency table is as follows:
Frequency and Frequency Tables
The frequency of a particular data value is the number of times the data value occurs.
For example, if four students have a score of 80 in mathematics, and then the score of 80 is said to have a frequency of 4. The frequency of a data value is often represented by f.
A frequency table is constructed by arranging collected data values in ascending order of magnitude with their corresponding frequencies.
Example 5
The marks awarded for an assignment set for a Year 8 class of 20 students were as follows:
6 7 5 7 7 8 7 6 9 7
4 10 6 8 8 9 5 6 4 8
Present this information in a frequency table.
Solution:
To construct a frequency table, we proceed as follows:
Step 1:
Construct a table with three columns. The first column shows what is being arranged in ascending order (i.e. the marks). The lowest mark is 4. So, start from 4 in the first column as shown below.
Step 2:
Go through the list of marks. The first mark in the list is 6, so put a tally mark against 6 in the second column. The second mark in the list is 7, so put a tally mark against 7 in the second column. The third mark in the list is 5, so put a tally mark against 5 in the third column as shown below.
We continue this process until all marks in the list are tallied.
Step 3:
Count the number of tally marks for each mark and write it in third column. The finished frequency table is as follows: