Class Interval
This article covers meaning, importance & example of Class Interval from statistical perspective.
What is Class Interval?
Class interval refers to the numerical width of any class in a particular distribution. Mathematically it is defined as the difference between the upper class limit and the lower class limit.
Importance of Class Interval
In statistics, the data is arranged into different classes and the width of such class is called class interval. Class intervals are generally equal in width but this might not be the case always. Also, they are generally mutually exclusive. Class Intervals are very useful in drawing histograms.
Formula for Class Interval
To calculate the class interval, the lower class limit has to be subtracted from the upper class limit. It can be highlighted as:
Class Interval = Upper Class limit – Lower class limit
Class Interval Example
For example the following are the data of ages of a randomly selected population of 10 people
Age of people: 8, 19, 58, 35, 45, 12, 6, 13, 18, 47
Then they are grouped as follows in the frequency distribution table:
|
Class |
Frequency |
|
0-10 |
2 |
|
10-20 |
4 |
|
20-30 |
0 |
|
30-40 |
1 |
|
40-50 |
2 |
|
50-60 |
1 |
|
60 and above |
0 |
Here, class interval is 10-0=20-10=30-20= 10
In first row, upper limit=10, lower limit= 0, class width= 10-0=10.
The grouping can be done differently with different class intervals also.
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