Measures Of Center And Variability
Statistics introduces us to several fundamental terms, such as the standard deviation, mode, median, and mean, all of which help us better interpret data (Libretexts, 2023). The mean, commonly referred to as the arithmetic average, is the most widely used and widely understood measure of central tendency.” It is also the meaning of the term “mean.” The median of a data collection is the number generated by ranking all of the datasets from least relevant to most substantial and selecting the number at the midpoint of this spectrum of values. The mode of a data set is the value that occurs the most frequently across the collection. The standard deviation is a statistic for assessing how equally dispersed a data set is. Dispersion is another name for variation. One takes the square root of the variance to determine the standard deviation. We may calculate the variance of a sample by multiplying the total of the squared departures from the mean of each data point by its square root. You will receive the variation as a result of this.
This information can help us better understand our data and make more suitable judgments in light of that data (Libretexts, 2023). For example, if you’re looking at earnings statistics, you might want to use the median rather than the mean because a few high earners can skew the mean. This is because the median is more representative of the entire population. The standard deviation, for example, is a valuable tool for estimating the degree of risk associated with various investments.
This knowledge can also help us better understand the information in the media, such as poll findings (Libretexts, 2023). For example, suppose a poll shows that the average individual supports a specific candidate by a margin of 3%. In that case, we may want to know the standard deviation to understand better how accurate that statistic is. This would allow us to compare the survey findings to the population. When the standard deviation is large, it implies that the data is less reliable since it is more spread. Knowing the concepts of mode, median, standard deviation, and mean may help us better understand data and reach conclusions more in our best interests.
References
Libretexts. (2023, March 11). 13.1: Basic statistics- mean, median, average, standard deviation, Z-scores, and P-value. Engineering LibreTexts. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://eng.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Industrial_and_Systems_Engineering/Chemical_Process_Dynamics_and_Controls_(Woolf)/13%3A_Statistics_and_Probability_Background/13.01%3A_Basic_statistics-_mean%2C_median%2C_average%2C_standard_deviation%2C_z-scores%2C_and_p-value
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Question
Discuss the concepts of mean, median, mode, and standard deviation. Include when each should be used and evaluate the differences between each. How can knowing this information about data help us?
Describe 1 example from your personal or professional experiences using either measure of centre (i.e., mean, median, or mode) or standard deviation. Discuss how knowing that information helped you.