Question

An adult can lose or gain two pounds of water ina course of a day. Assume that the changes in water weight isuniformly distributed between minus two and plus two pounds in aday. What is the standard deviation of your weight over aday?

Answer 1

The standard deviation of the weight over a day is approximately 1.155 pounds.

Step-by-step explanation:

The weight fluctuations for an adult losing or gaining water are uniformly distributed between -2 and +2 pounds in a day. To find the standard deviation of the weight over a day, we need to use the formula for the standard deviation of a uniform distribution. The formula is
Standard Deviation = (b - a) / sqrt(12)

where 'a' is the minimum value (-2) and 'b' is the maximum value (+2). Plugging in the values, we have:

Standard Deviation = (2 - (-2)) / sqrt(12) = 4 / sqrt(12) = 1.155

Therefore, the standard deviation of the weight over a day is approximately 1.155 pounds.