The relative frequency is found by dividing the frequency of a particular data value by the total number of data values.
Understanding Relative Frequency
Relative frequency helps to understand the proportion of times an event or value occurs within a dataset. It's a key concept in statistics used to compare different datasets or different outcomes within the same set.
Calculating Relative Frequency
Here's how to calculate the relative frequency:
- Count Frequencies: First, determine the frequency of each data value. The frequency is how many times that particular data value occurs in your set.
- Find Total: Next, find the total number of data values in your dataset.
- Divide: Finally, divide the frequency of each value by the total number of values.
- Formula: Relative Frequency = (Frequency of a Data Value) / (Total Number of Data Values)
Example
Let's look at an example to illustrate this:
Imagine you surveyed 20 people about their favorite color, and here's what you find:
| Color | Frequency |
|---|---|
| Blue | 8 |
| Red | 5 |
| Green | 4 |
| Yellow | 3 |
| Total | 20 |
To find the relative frequency of each color, we perform the division:
- Blue: 8 / 20 = 0.4
- Red: 5 / 20 = 0.25
- Green: 4 / 20 = 0.2
- Yellow: 3 / 20 = 0.15
This shows that Blue is the most frequent color and accounts for 40% of all responses.
Practical Insights:
- Percentage: Relative frequency can be converted to a percentage by multiplying the result by 100 (e.g., 0.4 becomes 40%).
- Comparison: Relative frequencies allow you to easily compare the proportion of different categories within a single dataset.
- Large Datasets: Relative frequencies become more useful when dealing with larger datasets where raw frequencies may be less intuitive.
Conclusion
The relative frequency is a useful statistical tool for expressing the proportional occurrence of data values. You calculate it by dividing the frequency of a specific data value by the total number of data values, as stated in the provided reference: "divide the frequency by the total number of data values".
