Standard Deviation Lesson2
Standard Deviation Lesson2
The variance, denoted d 2 , and the standard deviation of a data set {x1 , x2 , , xn } are defined as follows.
( x1 − m) 2 + ( x2 − m) 2 + + ( xn − m) 2
= d=
Variance 2
, in which m is the mean of n numbers.
n
( x1 − m) 2 + ( x2 − m) 2 + + ( xn − m) 2
=
Standard deviation =
d2
n
In a data set, if the same number k is added to each number, the mean and the median are increased by k ,
while the range and the standard deviation remain unchanged.
If each number in a data set is multiplied by the same number k , the mean, median, range, and standard
deviation are all multiplied by k .
In general, when the measures are clustered close to the mean the standard deviation is small, and when
the measures are widely spread apart the standard deviation is relatively large.
The graph of the normal distribution, called the normal curve, is a symmetrical bell shaped curve which
shows the relationship between the standard deviation and the observations.
68%
95%
99%
Example 1 □ Find the variance and the standard deviation of the data set {3, 5, 12, 16, 19} .
3 + 5 + 12 + 16 + 19 55
Solutions □ Mean
= = = 11
5 5
Example 2 □ On a test, 82 is the arithmetic mean and 6 is the standard deviation. What value is
exactly two standard deviations more than the mean?