MEASURES OF

VARIABILITY
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Compute the range, variance and standard deviation

• Interpret the result of computed value
• Describe kinds of distribution considering the measures of
variability
 Definition of a Range
In statistics, the range is a measure of a spread; it’s the difference between the
highest value and the lowest value in a data set.
How to find a range

• Example question 1. What is the range for the following set of

numbers? 10,99,87,45,67,43,45,33,21,7,65,98?
Step 1: Sort the numbers in order, from smallest to
largest:7,10,21,33,43,45,65,67,87,98,99
Step 2: Subtract the smallest number in the set from the largest
number in the set: 99-7 = 92
RANGE = 92
• Example question 2. What is the range of these integers?
14,-12,7,0,-5,-8,17,-11,19
Step 1. Sort the numbers in order, from the smallest to largest:
-12,-11,-8,-5,0,7,14,17,19
Step 2. Subtract the smallest number in the set from the largest
number in the set:
19-(-12)= 19+ 12 = 31
RANGE = 31
• Example question no.3 What is the range of the following times?
2.7 hrs, 8.3 hrs, 3.5 hrs, 5.1 hrs, 4.9 hrs

Step 1: Sort the numbers in order, from smallest to largest:

2.7, 3.5, 4.9, 5.1, 8.3
Step 2: Subtract the smallest number in the set from the largest number in
the set:
8.3 hrs- 2.7 hrs= 5.6 hrs
RANGE = 5.6 hrs
Range in Excel: Data Analysis Steps
• 1. Click the “ Data” tab and the click “ Data Analysis”
• 2. Click “ Descriptive Statistics” and then click “OK”
• 3. Click the Input Range box then type the location for your data. For example
if you typed your data into cells A1 to A10, type “A1:A10” into that box.
• 4. Click the radio button for Rows or Columns, depending on how your data is
laid out.
• 5. Click the “Labels in first row” box if your data has column headers
• 6. Click the “Descriptive Statistics” check box.
• 7. Select a location for your output. For example, click the “ New Worksheet”
radio button
• 8. Click “OK”
STANDARD DEVIATION
It is a statistic that looks how far from the mean a group of
numbers is, by using the square root of variance.

It is calculated as the square root of variance by figuring out the

variation between each data point related to the mean.

To calculate standard deviation, add up all the data points and

divide by the number of data points, calculate the variance of data
point and then find the square root of the variance.
VARIANCE

• The variance is the average of the squared difference from the mean. To
figure out the variance, first calculate the difference between each point
and the mean; then, square and average the results.
• For example, if a group of numbers ranges from 1 to 10, it will have a
mean of 5.5. If you square the differences between each number and the
mean, and then find their sum, the result is 82.5. To figure out the
variance, divide the sum, 82.5, by N-1, which is the sample size (in this
case) minus 1. The result is a variance of 82.5/9= 9.17. Standard deviation
is the square root of the variance so that the standard deviation would be
about 3.03.
Because of this squaring, the variance is no longer in the same unit of
measurement as the original data. Taking the root of the variance means the
standard deviation is restored to the original unit of measure and therefore much
easier to interpret.
Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prepared by:
Max Alexis E. Bugtong
Julie Ann E. Ranido