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Measures of Dispersion

A.Range: The simplest of our methods for measuring dispersion is range. Range is the
difference between the largest value and the smallest value in the data set. While being simple
to compute, the range is often unreliable as a measure of dispersion since it is based on only two
values in the set.

A range of 50 tells us very little about how the values are dispersed.
Are the values all clustered to one end with the low value (12) or the high value (62) being an
outlier?
Or are the values more evenly dispersed among the range?

Before discussing our next methods, let's establish some vocabulary:


Population form:

Sample form:

The population form is used when the data


being analyzed includes the entire set of
possible data. When using this form, divide
by n, the number of values in the data set.

The sample form is used when the data is a


random sample taken from the entire set of
data. When using this form, divide by n - 1.
(It can be shown that dividing by n - 1
makes S2 for the sample, a better estimate
of
for the population from which the
sample was taken.)

All people living in the US.

Sam, Pete and Claire who live in the US.

The population form should be used unless you know a random sample is being analyzed.

B. Standard Deviation: Standard deviation is the square root of the variance. The formulas
are:

C. Variance: To find the variance:

subtract the mean, , from each of the values in the data set,
square the result
add all of these squares
and divide by the number of values in the data set.

(Additional)

Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD):

The mean absolute deviation is the mean (average) of the absolute value of the difference
between the individual values in the data set and the mean. The method tries to measure the
average distances between the values in the data set and the mean.

Percentile, Decile and Quartile

Percentiles (100 regions)


The kth percentile is the number which has k% of the values below it. The data must be ranked.
1. Rank the data
2. Find k% (k /100) of the sample size, n.
3. If this is an integer, add 0.5. If it isn't an integer round up.
4. Find the number in this position. If your depth ends in 0.5, then take the midpoint between
the two numbers.
It is sometimes easier to count from the high end rather than counting from the low end. For
example, the 80th percentile is the number which has 80% below it and 20% above it. Rather
than counting 80% from the bottom, count 20% from the top.
Note: The 50th percentile is the median.
If you wish to find the percentile for a number (rather than locating the kth percentile), then
1. Take the number of values below the number
2. Add 0.5
3. Divide by the total number of values
4. Convert it to a percent
Deciles (10 regions)
The percentiles divide the data into 100 equal regions. The deciles divide the data into 10 equal
regions. The instructions are the same for finding a percentile, except instead of dividing by 100
in step 2, divide by 10.

Quartiles (4 regions)
The quartiles divide the data into 4 equal regions. Instead of dividing by 100 in step 2, divide by
4.
Note: The 2nd quartile is the same as the median. The 1st quartile is the 25th percentile, the
3rd quartile is the 75th percentile.
The quartiles are commonly used (much more so than the percentiles or deciles). The TI-82
calculator will find the quartiles for you. Some textbooks include the quartiles in the five number
summary.

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