Final answer:
The major purpose of standard deviation is to measure the overall variation in a data set. It helps in understanding the spread of data points around the mean. SD has advantages like measuring variability, identifying outliers, and predicting trends.
Step-by-step explanation:
The major purpose of standard deviation (SD) is to measure the overall variation in a data set. It provides a way to determine whether a data value is close to or far from the mean. SD helps us understand the spread or dispersion of the data points around the mean.
There are several advantages of using standard deviation:
- Measuring Variability: SD gives us a quantitative measure of how spread out the data is, allowing us to compare and analyze different sets of data.
- Identification of Outliers: SD helps in identifying outliers, which are data points that are significantly different from the majority of the data. These outliers may carry important information or indicate errors.
- Predicting Trends: By analyzing the standard deviation over time, we can predict trends in the occurrence of certain phenomena, such as disease occurrence in populations.