Definition:Frequency (Descriptive Statistics)
(Redirected from Definition:Absolute Frequency)
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Definition
Let $S$ be a sample or a population.
Let $\omega$ be a qualitative variable, or a class interval of a quantitative variable.
The frequency of $\omega$ is the number of individuals in $S$ satisfying $\omega$.
Examples
Arbitrary Example
Consider the sample:
- $2, 5, 3, 3, 3, 5, 3, 6, 2, 3, 9, 5$
The (absolute) frequency of the observation $3$ is $5$.
The (absolute) frequency of the observation $9$ is $1$.
Also known as
The frequency of $\omega$ is also referred to as the absolute frequency of $\omega$, so as to distinguish it explicitly from relative frequency.
When $\omega$ is a class interval, the frequency of $\omega$ is referred to as a class frequency.
Also see
- Results about frequency in the context of descriptive statistics can be found here.
Sources
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): frequency: 2.
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): frequency: 2.
- 2011: Charles Henry Brase and Corrinne Pellillo Brase: Understandable Statistics (10th ed.): $\S 2.1$
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): absolute frequency
- 2021: Richard Earl and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (6th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): absolute frequency