This introduction covers Building Up the Picture within Cumulative Frequency for GCSE Mathematics. Revise Cumulative Frequency in Statistics for GCSE Mathematics with 14 exam-style questions and 20 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 1 of 11 in this topic. Use this introduction to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.

📊 Building Up the Picture

Imagine you're organizing a charity run and need to know how many runners finish within certain times to plan medal ceremonies and refreshment stations. Rather than looking at each individual time, cumulative frequency helps you see the "running total" - how many runners have finished by each time checkpoint. This running total builds up step by step, giving you the complete picture of when to expect different numbers of finishers.

Practice questions for Cumulative Frequency

Cumulative frequency is:

A. The highest frequency in a table
B. The running total of frequencies up to and including each class
C. The mean of all frequencies
D. The difference between the largest and smallest frequencies

1 markfoundation

The graph shows the times for 60 students. The cumulative frequency at 40 seconds reads as 48. Estimate the number of students who took longer than 40 seconds to complete the puzzle.

2 marksstandard

Quick recall flashcards

What is cumulative frequency?

Cumulative frequency is the running total of frequencies up to and including each class. It shows how many data values fall below the upper boundary of each class.

How do you calculate cumulative frequency?

Start with the first frequency. For each subsequent class, add the current frequency to the previous cumulative frequency: CF₂ = CF₁ + f₂ CF₃ = CF₂ + f₃, and so on.

Building Up the Picture

📊 Building Up the Picture

Practice questions for Cumulative Frequency

Quick recall flashcards

14 questions on Cumulative Frequency — practise free