In a statistical investigation, the expression of the ratio of the tally of a modality or a value of the character studied and the total number of results, in the form of a decimal number or a percentage.
If the statistical character is continuous, we call the frequency f of a class the ratio of the tally of this class and the total tally of the distribution.
Example
Distribution of students at Springfield School
| Categories of ages |
Tally | Tallies combined |
Frequency (%) |
Frequencies combined (%) |
| 6 – 7 | 40 | 40 | 21.2 | 21.2 |
| 8 – 9 | 45 | 85 | 23.8 | 45.0 |
| 10 -11 | 48 | 133 | 25,4 | 70,4 |
| 12 – 13 | 56 | 189 | 29.6 | 100.0 |
| Totals | 189 | 100 |