FREE DOWNLOAD
Help your students prepare for their Maths GCSE with this free cumulative frequency worksheet of 21 questions and answers
Suitable for GCSE maths revision for AQA, OCR and Edexcel exam boards
You can unsubscribe at any time (each email we send will contain an easy way to unsubscribe). To find out more about how we use your data, see our privacy policy.
Cumulative frequency is a running total of frequencies. If a set of grouped data is presented in a frequency table, it is useful to add a cumulative frequency column on the right hand side of the table, and record the running totals in here, creating a cumulative frequency table.
On a cumulative frequency graph or cumulative frequency diagram, the data groups are marked on the x axis and cumulative frequency on the y axis. We then plot the endpoint of each group or class interval against its cumulative frequency.
A cumulative frequency curve can be used to estimate the median and quartiles. To estimate the median (the location where 50% of the data lies above and below this value), find the midpoint of the cumulative frequency axis, then read off the corresponding x value. To find the lower quartile, we read off the x value corresponding to one-quarter (25%) of the cumulative frequency axis, and to find the upper quartile, we read off the x value corresponding to three-quarters (75%) of the cumulative frequency axis.Â
We can use these values, along with the minimum value and maximum value from the graph, to draw an estimated box and whisker plot to represent the distribution. We can also estimate the interquartile range (IQR) by subtracting the lower quartile from the upper quartile.
We can use cumulative frequency curves to compare distributions of two or more data sets by plotting the curves on the same set of axes and comparing the shapes of the curves. This can also be done using their associated box plot.
Looking forward, students can then progress to additional Statistics worksheets, for example the averages worksheet, the box plots worksheet, or the histograms worksheet.
For more teaching and learning support on Statistics our GCSE maths lessons provide step by step support for all GCSE maths concepts.
With Third Space Learning's secondary maths tutoring programmes, students in Year 7-11 receive regular one to one maths tutoring to address gaps, build confidence and boost progress.
"My confidence in the tutoring is high. We've had some phenomenal results. I even had one girl get a Grade 8 this year; she came to every tutoring session."
Stacey Atkins, Maths Director, Outwood Grange Academies Trust