Question

What is definition of the standard deviation?

A) The volume of material that passes a certain point at a specific point in time.
B) The measure of the "spread" of the data relative to the mean value.
C) The measure of the "spread" of the data relative to the median value.
D) The mathematical difference between the maximum and the minimum.
E) The measure of the "spread" of the data relative to the mode value.

Answer 1

The standard deviation is a statistical measure that indicates the spread of data values around the mean, where a small standard deviation means data is close to the mean and a large one suggests greater variability.

Step-by-step explanation:

The standard deviation is a statistical measure that describes the spread or variability of a set of data. Specifically, it indicates how far the individual data points are from the data set's mean. The standard deviation can be small, signifying that data points are close to the mean, or it can be large, indicating that data points are spread out over a wider range. It is denoted by 's' for a sample or 'σ' (sigma) for a population and is calculated by taking the square root of the variance.

Regarding the options provided in the question, the correct definition of standard deviation is B) The measure of the "spread" of the data relative to the mean value. This is because the standard deviation assesses how concentrated or dispersed the data values are in relation to the mean.