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Part I Review of Fundamentals

Module 2 Basic Physics and Mathematics
Used in Radiation Protection

Session 12 Statistics Mean, Mode etc
Session I.2.12
IAEA Post Graduate Educational Course
Radiation Protection and Safe Use of Radiation Sources
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In this session we will discuss fundamental
statistical quantities such as

Mean
Mode
Median
Standard deviation
Standard error
Confidence Intervals
Overview
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The sum of the values of observations
divided by the number of observations is
called the mean which is designated .
Mean
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Consider the following 6 observations

1.7 3.2 3.2 4.6 1.4 2.8

the mean is calculated as follows

=

= = 2.82
Mean
(1.7 + 3.2 + 3.2 + 4.6 + 1.4 + 2.8)
6
16.9
6
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The median is the middle observation when the
observations are arranged in order of their
magnitude (size).

For an even number of observations, the median
is the mean of the two middle observations.
Median
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The ordered set of the 6 observations used to
demonstrate the mean is

1.4 1.7 2.8 3.2 3.2 4.6
Median
(2.8 + 3.2)
2
= = 3
6
2
Because the number of observations is even
(6) the median is calculated as
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The mode is the measurement that occurs
most often in a set of observations.
Mode
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For the dataset

1.4 1.7 2.8 3.2 3.2 4.6

the mode is 3.2

Some datasets may have more than one
mode and some have none.
Mode
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The standard deviation () is a measure of how
much a distribution varies from the mean.

Standard Deviation
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For the dataset

1.7 3.2 3.2 4.6 1.4 2.8 ( = 2.82)

= =

Standard Deviation
(x
i
- )
2

(n-1)


(1.4 2.82)
2
+ (1.7 2.82)
2
+ (2.8 2.82)
2
+ (3.2 2.82)
2
+ (3.2 2.82)
2
+ (4.6 2.82)
2

(6 1)

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=


= = 1.16
Standard Deviation
(2.02 + 1.25 + 0.0004 + 0.14 + 0.14 + 3.17)
5

6.72
5

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The standard deviation is often called the
standard error of the mean, or simply the
standard error.

Standard Deviation
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A confidence interval for a parameter of
interest indicates a measure of assurance
(probability) that the interval includes the
parameter of interest.

Example

We are 95% confident that the mean of a
series of mass measurements is between 8.4
and 10.1 kg.

Confidence Intervals
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Confidence Intervals
95%
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It is possible to define two statistics, t
1
and t
2

such that a parameter being estimated

Pr(t
1
t
2
) = 1 -

where is some fixed probability.

The assertion that lies in this interval will be
true, on average, in proportion to 1 - of the
cases when this is true.
Confidence Intervals
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A confidence interval about the mean of a
normal population assumes:

a two-sided confidence interval about
the population mean is desired
the population variance,
2
, is known
the confidence coefficient is 0.95
Confidence Intervals
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For a standardized normal distribution, this
means that 95% of the normal distribution lies
between 1.96 and +1.96

Pr { (Y-1.96) < < (Y+1.96) }

where Y =
Confidence Intervals
(x
i
)
n
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Where to Get More Information
Cember, H., Introduction to Health Physics, 3
rd

Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York (2000)

Firestone, R.B., Baglin, C.M., Frank-Chu, S.Y., Eds.,
Table of Isotopes (8
th
Edition, 1999 update), Wiley,
New York (1999)

International Atomic Energy Agency, The Safe Use
of Radiation Sources, Training Course Series No. 6,
IAEA, Vienna (1995)