openfreebooks-bookgenerator/content/math/measures-dispersion/core.html

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<div class="book-prose">
<p>
Dispersion describes how spread out data is. Two datasets can have the same average but very
different variability.
</p>
<h2 id="range-iqr" class="book-prose__heading">Range and interquartile range</h2>
<p class="book-formula">\[
\text{Range}=\text{max}-\text{min},\qquad
\text{IQR}=Q_3-Q_1.
\]</p>
<p>
IQR is less affected by outliers than range.
</p>
<h2 id="variance-sd" class="book-prose__heading">Variance and standard deviation</h2>
<p>
Variance measures average squared distance from mean.
Standard deviation is square root of variance and has same unit as data.
</p>
<p class="book-formula">\[
\sigma=\sqrt{\frac{\sum (x-\bar{x})^2}{n}}
\]</p>
<h2 id="comparing-data" class="book-prose__heading">Comparing datasets</h2>
<ul>
<li>Smaller spread statistics \(\Rightarrow\) more consistent data.</li>
<li>Use median + IQR for skewed data.</li>
<li>Use mean + standard deviation for roughly symmetric data.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="boxplot-reading" class="book-prose__heading">Box plot interpretation</h2>
<p>
Box shows middle 50% (\(Q_1\) to \(Q_3\)); median line marks center.
Longer whisker/box indicates larger spread.
</p>
<h2 id="exam-strategy" class="book-prose__heading">Exam strategy</h2>
<ul>
<li>State both center and spread when comparing sets.</li>
<li>Do not confuse variance with standard deviation.</li>
<li>Check if grouped-data values are estimates.</li>
<li>Interpret spread in context (consistency/risk).</li>
</ul>
</div>