Dispersion Formulas:
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Definition: Measures of dispersion describe how spread out or varied a set of data is.
Purpose: These measures help understand the variability in data, complementing measures of central tendency like mean.
The calculator provides three main measures:
Where:
Details: Understanding dispersion helps assess data reliability, compare datasets, and make informed decisions in statistics.
Tips: Enter numeric values separated by commas (e.g., "5, 10, 15, 20"). The calculator will ignore non-numeric values.
Q1: What's the difference between variance and standard deviation?
A: Variance is in squared units, while standard deviation is in the original units, making it more interpretable.
Q2: When should I use range vs standard deviation?
A: Range gives a quick sense of spread but is sensitive to outliers. Standard deviation provides more reliable measure of typical variation.
Q3: What does a high standard deviation indicate?
A: High standard deviation means data points are spread out widely from the mean, indicating greater variability.
Q4: Can I use this for population and sample data?
A: This calculator uses population formulas. For sample data, divide by N-1 instead of N for variance.
Q5: How do outliers affect these measures?
A: Outliers significantly impact range and moderately affect variance/standard deviation.