CHAPTER 2 - Classification and Tabulation of Frequency Distributions

Abstract

This chapter discusses the classification and tabulation of frequency distributions. For a collection of data, the number of items in a given class C is termed C's frequency. In the geosciences, C may be a nonnumerical property such as a color, a specific type of object such as a mineral, a single numerical value, or an interval such as the set of all numbers between zero and one. The frequency may refer to a universe as a whole or to a sample. When a collection of data is separated into several classes, the number of items in a given class is the absolute frequency, and the absolute frequency divided by the total number of items is the relative frequency. The set of all frequencies with their corresponding classes is the absolute (relative) frequency distribution. Occasionally, the exact frequencies are unknown but can be designated qualitatively by expressions such as rare and abundant.