MATH – 361

Introduction to Probability and Statistics

Lecture No. 11
Measures of Dispersion

Reference: Ch # 1, Sec 1.3, Text Book

No. Of Slides:40
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 Desired Learning Objectives

After this lecture students will be able to

 Understand basic concept of Dispersion

 Understand different measures of Dispersion

 Apply these measures in the fields of engineering particularly while
conducting technical investigations

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 Measures of Dispersion

1. Range
2. The Quartile Deviation
3. The Mean Deviation
4. Variance
5. The Standard Deviation

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 Standard Deviation

 The concept of standard deviation was first introduced by Karl

Pearson in 1893

 The standard deviation is the most useful and the most popular
measure of dispersion

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 Standard Deviation

 The standard deviation is represented by the Greek letter 𝝈

(sigma)
 It is always calculated from the arithmetic mean

 Demerits of other measures

1. Range – it suffer from a serious drawback considers only 2

values and neglects all the other values of the series
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 Standard Deviation

2. Quartile Deviation considers only 50% of the values and ignores

the other 50% of values in the series

3. Mean Deviation no doubt an improved measure but ignores

negative signs without any basis

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 Standard Deviation (SD)

Definition

 The Standard Deviation is a number that measures how far away

each number in a set of data is from their Mean

 It is defined as the positive square root of a quantity called

variance
𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝐷 = 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑚𝑎 = 𝜎
𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑆𝐷 = 𝑆

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 Standard Deviation (SD)

 If the Standard Deviation is large, it means the numbers are

spread out from their Mean

 If the Standard Deviation is small, it means the numbers are

close to their Mean

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 Standard Deviation

Formula

For Ungrouped Data

σ 𝑥 − 𝑥ҧ 2
𝑆𝐷 = 𝜎 =
𝑛

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 Standard Deviation

Formula

For Ungrouped Data (Computational Form)

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σ 𝑥2 σ𝑥
𝑆𝐷 = 𝜎 = −
𝑛 𝑛

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 Standard Deviation

Formula

For Grouped Data

σ 𝑓 𝑥 − 𝑥ҧ 2
𝑆𝐷 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 = 𝜎 =
σ𝑓

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 Standard Deviation

Formula

For Grouped Data (Computational Form)

2
σ 𝑓𝑥 2 σ 𝑓𝑥
𝑆𝐷 = 𝜎 = −
σ𝑓 σ𝑓

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 Standard Deviation

Example : Un-grouped Data Number of fatalities

Day
X
Sunday 4
The number of fatalities in motorway Monday 6
accidents in one week Tuesday 2
Wednesday 0
Thursday 3
Friday 5
Saturday 8
Total 28
 Standard Deviation

Example : Un-grouped Data

Distance from Mean Sq of distance form
𝑥 ഥ
𝒙
ഥ)
(𝒙 − 𝒙 Mean 𝒙 − 𝒙 ഥ 𝟐
4 0 0
6 +2 4
2 –2 4
σ𝒙 𝟐𝟖
0 = =𝟒 –4 16
𝒏 𝟕
3 –1 1
5 +1 1
8 +4 16
σ 𝒙−𝒙 ഥ 𝟐 = 42
 Standard Deviation

Example : Un-grouped Data

σ 𝑥 − 𝑥ҧ 2
𝑆𝐷 = 𝑆 =
𝑛
so that the standard deviation number of fatalities is

42
𝑆𝐷 = 𝑆 = = 2.45
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 Standard Deviation

Example : Un-grouped Data using 2nd formula

𝒙 𝒙𝟐
4 16
2
6 36 154 28
𝑆𝐷 = 𝑆 = −
2 4
7 7
0 0
3 9 = 2.45 𝑓𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠
5 25
8 64
෍ 𝑥 = 28 ෍ 𝑥 2 = 154
 Why Standard Deviation ?

Example
 Two classes took a recent quiz. There were 10 students in each
class, and each class had an average score of 81.5

Since the averages are the same, can we assume that the
students in both classes all did pretty much the same on the
exam ?
 Discussion
A B

72 57
76 65
Here are the scores of the 80 83
math quiz for two different 80 94
sections 81 95
83 96
84 98
85 93
85 Average: 71
89 81.5 63
 Discussion

Team A Quiz
Grades

Mean

Team B Quiz
Grades
 Standard Deviation

The Standard Deviation measures how far away each number in a

set of data is from their Mean
 Standard Deviation

For example, start with the lowest score, 72. How far away is 72
from the mean of 81.5?

- 9.5

72 - 81.5 = - 9.5
 Standard Deviation

Or, start with the highest score, 89. How far away is 89 from the mean
of 81.5?

- 9.5 7.5

89 - 81.5 = 7.5
 Standard Deviation
x Distance from Mean
72 - 9.5
76 - 5.5
So, the first step to finding the 80 - 1.5
80 - 1.5
Standard Deviation is to find all
81 - 0.5
the distances from the mean
83 1.5
84 2.5
85 3.5
85 3.5
89 7.5
 Standard Deviation
X Distance from mean Distance square
72 - 9.5 90.25
76 - 5.5 30.25
Next, you need to square 80 - 1.5 2.25
each of the distances to 80 - 1.5 2.25
turn them all into positive 81 - 0.5 0.25
numbers 83 1.5 2.25
84 2.5 6.25
85 3.5 12.25
85 3.5 12.25
89 7.5 56.25
 Standard Deviation
X Distance from mean Distance square
Sum:
72 - 9.5 90.25
214.5
76 - 5.5 30.25
80 - 1.5 2.25
Add up all of the 80 - 1.5 2.25
distances 81 - 0.5 0.25
83 1.5 2.25
84 2.5 6.25
85 3.5 12.25
85 3.5 12.25
89 7.5 56.25
 Standard Deviation
X Distance from mean Distance square
Sum:
72 - 9.5 90.25
76 - 5.5 30.25 𝟐𝟏𝟒. 𝟓
𝟏𝟎
80 - 1.5 2.25
Divide by n where 80 - 1.5 2.25 = 𝟐𝟏. 𝟒𝟓
n represents total 81 - 0.5 0.25
number of entries 83 1.5 2.25
84 2.5 6.25
85 3.5 12.25
85 3.5 12.25
89 7.5 56.25
 Standard Deviation
X Distance from mean Distance square Avg sq distance:
72 - 9.5 90.25
𝟐𝟏𝟒. 𝟓
76 - 5.5 30.25
𝟏𝟎
Finally, take the 80 - 1.5 2.25
80 - 1.5 = 𝟐𝟏. 𝟒𝟓
Square Root of 2.25
the average 81 - 0.5 0.25 SD= 𝟐𝟏. 𝟒𝟓
distance 83 1.5 2.25 =4.63
84 2.5 6.25
85 3.5 12.25
85 3.5 12.25
89 7.5 56.25
 Standard Deviation
X Distance from mean Distance square Sum:
72 - 9.5 90.25
𝟐𝟏𝟒. 𝟓
76 - 5.5 30.25
𝟏𝟎
This is the 80 - 1.5 2.25
= 𝟐𝟏. 𝟒𝟓
Standard 80 - 1.5 2.25
Deviation 81 - 0.5 0.25 =4.63
83 1.5 2.25
84 2.5 6.25
85 3.5 12.25
85 3.5 12.25
89 7.5 56.25
 Standard Deviation
X Distance from mean Distance square Avg sq distance
57 - 24.5 600.25
𝟐𝟐𝟖𝟎. 𝟓
65 - 16.5 272.25
𝟏𝟎
Now find the 83 1.5 2.25
= 𝟐𝟐𝟖. 𝟎𝟓
Standard 94 12.5 156.25
Deviation for 95 13.5 182.25 SD = 𝟐𝟐𝟖. 𝟎𝟓
96 14.5 210.25 =15.1
the other
class grades 98 16.5 272.25
93 11.5 132.25
71 - 10.5 110.25
63 -18.5 342.25
 Standard Deviation
Now, lets compare the two classes again

Section A Section B
Average on the Quiz 81.5 81.5
Standard Deviation 4.63 15.1

As the SD for Section A is less means the Section A has more

student performing at high level than Section B
 The Standard deviation

Example : Grouped Data

Data regarding number of days corresponding to number of

accidents is tabulated below find the standard deviation

No. of accidents per day 0 1 2 3 4 5

No. of days 76 38 20 10 4 2

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 The Standard deviation

Example : Grouped Data

σ 𝑓𝑥 2 σ 𝑓𝑥 2
Formula : 𝑆𝐷 = 𝑆 = σ𝑓
− σ𝑓

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The Standard deviation

Example : Grouped Data

𝑿 𝑿𝟐 𝒇 𝒇𝑿 𝒇 𝑿𝟐
0 0 76 0 0
1 1 38 38 38
2 4 20 40 80
3 9 10 30 90
4 16 4 16 64
5 25 2 10 50
Total 150 134 322

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 The Standard deviation

Example : Grouped Data

2
σ 𝑓𝑥 2 σ 𝑓𝑥
𝑆𝐷 = 𝑆 = −
σ𝑓 σ𝑓
Using values we get

2
322 134
𝑆𝐷 = 𝑆 = − = 1.16
150 150
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 Interpretation of the Standard Deviation

 A smaller value of the Standard Deviation indicates that most of

the observations in a data set are close to the Mean

 A large value implies that the observations are scattered widely

about the Mean

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 The Standard Deviation

Practice Problem 1

Find standard deviation

Marks 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80

No. of Students 5 12 15 20 10 4 2

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 The Standard Deviation

Practice Problem 2

Calculate the standard deviation for the following three sample

data sets:

a. 13 21 27 31 35 24 28 32 17 20
b. 100 115 112 113 95 87 90 104 107 98
c. 55 54 59 55 52 51 57 49 61 57

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 The Standard Deviation

Practice Problem 3

The owner of the Ches Tahoe restaurant is interested in how much

people spend at the restaurant. He examines 10 randomly selected
receipts for parties of four and writes down the following data. Find
how much patrons spend at the restaurant

44, 50, 38, 96, 42, 47, 40, 39, 46, 50

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 Study Links

https://www.academia.edu/8166078/STATISTICS_AND_STANDARD_DEVIATION_Statistics_an
d_Standard_Deviation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztfaPxCqGiE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqOyy_NjflU

https://www.thoughtco.com/calculate-a-sample-standard-deviation-3126345

http://www.ltcconline.net/greenl/courses/201/descstat/mean.htm
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