Relative frequency is the fraction or percentage of times a value occurs out of the total number of observations. It converts raw counts into proportions, enabling fair comparisons between groups of different sizes.
Instead of saying '15 students picked pizza,' you say '15 out of 50' or '30%.' Relative frequency compares to the whole, making different-sized groups comparable.
Showing a random 20 of 50 problems.
Example 1
medium
A survey of 200 people lists ice-cream flavors: vanilla 80, chocolate 60, strawberry 40, other 20. Build the relative frequency table.Survey of 200 people: ice-cream flavor frequencies and relative frequencies.
Example 2
easy
A relative frequency table shows soccer =0.4, basketball =0.25, tennis =0.15. What is the relative frequency for the remaining category?
Example 3
medium
Class A: 12 of 30 passed. Class B: 18 of 40 passed. Which class had the higher pass relative frequency?
Example 4
easy
Why use relative frequency instead of raw counts when comparing two groups?
Example 5
challenge
Two classes are combined. Class P: pass rate 0.8 with n students. Class Q: pass rate 0.5 with 40 students. The combined pass rate is 0.65. Find n.
Example 6
medium
Group X: relative frequency of success 0.6 over 50 trials. Group Y: 0.4 over 100 trials. What is the combined success relative frequency?
Example 7
hard
In a class of 25 students, the relative frequency of left-handed students is 0.12. How many left-handed students are there, and is this a whole number?
Example 8
medium
A store sold 150 items: 60 small, 50 medium, 40 large. What percent were medium (round to nearest whole percent)?A store sold 150 items. What percent were Medium?
Example 9
challenge
A category's count must be a whole number. The total is 73 and a category's relative frequency is reported as 0.30. Show why the reported relative frequency cannot be exact, and give the nearest exact relative frequency below it.
Example 10
easy
Out of 50 spins, a spinner landed on red 20 times. Express the relative frequency of red as a percent.
Example 11
easy
In a class of 25 students, 10 chose soccer. What is the relative frequency of soccer (as a fraction)?
Example 12
medium
A pie of responses: Yes =0.5, No =0.3, the rest Maybe. If there are 200 responses, how many said Maybe?
Example 13
medium
If you double every count in a frequency table, how do the relative frequencies change?
Example 14
medium
A spinner is spun 200 times: red lands 80, blue 70, green 50. If the next 300 spins give similar relative frequencies, how many would we predict to be blue?
Example 15
hard
A grade distribution: A 0.10, B 0.30, C 0.40, D 0.15, F unknown. What is F's relative frequency, and in a class of 60 how many F's?Grade distribution: A=0.10, B=0.30, C=0.40, D=0.15, F=? Find F's relative frequency.
Example 16
easy
A survey of 60 people found 45 own a phone. What is the relative frequency of phone owners?
Example 17
medium
Two surveys: Survey 1 found 40 of 200 dissatisfied; Survey 2 found 30 of 120 dissatisfied. Which has the higher dissatisfaction rate?
Example 18
easy
Of 250 customers, 40 returned an item. Express the return rate as a percent.
Example 19
easy
Relative frequencies of all categories in a data set always sum to what number?
Example 20
medium
In 250 trials a result occurred with relative frequency 0.36. How many times did it occur?