In a relative frequency distribution, what does each $relative frequency$ represent?

• A. The cumulative sum of frequencies up to each class
• B. The proportion of the total number of observations that falls within each class ($\frac{f}{n}$, where $f$ is class frequency and $n$ is total observations)
• C. The difference between the highest and lowest values in each class
• D. The absolute number of observations in each class

Answer: (B)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand that a relative frequency distribution shows how the total number of observations is divided among different classes or categories.
2. Recall that the relative frequency for a class is calculated by dividing the frequency of that class by the total number of observations.
3. Express this mathematically as: \(\text{Relative Frequency} = \frac{\text{Frequency of the class}}{\text{Total number of observations}}\).
4. Interpret this value as the proportion or fraction of the entire dataset that falls within that specific class.
5. Recognize that this is different from cumulative frequency (which sums frequencies up to a class), range (difference between highest and lowest values), or absolute frequency (the count of observations in a class).