what made this so important for math

Statistics is used for a lot of everyday things. While you may not personally calculate statistical values, statistics is important for business, sports, video games, politics, medicine, software, etc. No matter what field you go into, that field will use statistics in some way, shape, or form.

why do I need to know this

got this answer from the user screenbones: Statistics is used for a lot of everyday things. While you may not personally calculate statistical values, statistics is important for business, sports, video games, politics, medicine, software, etc. No matter what field you go into, that field will use statistics in some way, shape, or form.

Can be standard deviation be zero? then what is its significance? can we say this is a statistical problem?

It can be zero if all entries have the same value. This is unlikely but possible to get such small sample from discrete distribution. Nevertheless, if you get big sample where each entry has exact the same value this should lead to the idea there is something wrong with the data source.

Can anyone please explain the difference for Population Standard Deviation Vs Sample Standard Deviation?

Population Standard Deviation is used when you're taking ALL the data observed as a set. Sample Standard Deviation is used when you're takin only a SUBSET of the data observed in a set.

how was the standard deviation determined?

For this exercise, you don't have to calculate the standard deviations. Just look at the graphs and visually compare the distributions. Which distribution seems to have a wider spread of data around the mean? That is, which distribution includes points that are further from the mean (represented by the dotted line)? That is the distribution with the higher standard deviation. The next lesson has a step-by-step walk-through for calculating the standard deviation.

What can we infer from the data if we say that the data has huge variation or the data is spread out from the mean or the data has high std.deviation? What difference will it make in inference as opposed to the std.deviation being close to 0.

Hi Vrisha, When the data has a high SD (e.g., SD = 25), it means that the individual data points are spread out quite a bit. On the other hand, if the data set has a smaller SD (e.g., SD = 0.3), you can infer that the data points are closer to the mean.

Main content

Statistics and probability

Course: Statistics and probability > Unit 3

Lesson 4: Variance and standard deviation of a population

The idea of spread and standard deviation

Google Classroom

See how distributions that are more spread out have a greater standard deviation.

Introduction to standard deviation

Standard deviation measures the spread of a data distribution. The more spread out a data distribution is, the greater its standard deviation.

For example, the blue distribution on bottom has a greater standard deviation (SD) than the green distribution on top:

Interestingly, standard deviation cannot be negative. A standard deviation close to

0

indicates that the data points tend to be close to the mean (shown by the dotted line). The further the data points are from the mean, the greater the standard deviation.

Try it yourself

Which of the data distributions shown below has the greater standard deviation?

[Explain]

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4804066769
Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to 4804066769's post “what made this so importa...”
what made this so important for math
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- Screenbones
  Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Screenbones's post “Statistics is used for a ...”
  Statistics is used for a lot of everyday things. While you may not personally calculate statistical values, statistics is important for business, sports, video games, politics, medicine, software, etc. No matter what field you go into, that field will use statistics in some way, shape, or form.
  Comment on Screenbones's post “Statistics is used for a ...”
  (29 votes)
Abhinay Singh
Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to Abhinay Singh's post “Can be standard deviation...”
Can be standard deviation be zero?
then what is its significance? can we say this is a statistical problem?
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(3 votes)
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- Vyacheslav Shults
  Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to Vyacheslav Shults's post “It can be zero if all ent...”
  It can be zero if all entries have the same value. This is unlikely but possible to get such small sample from discrete distribution. Nevertheless, if you get big sample where each entry has exact the same value this should lead to the idea there is something wrong with the data source.
  Comment on Vyacheslav Shults's post “It can be zero if all ent...”
  (20 votes)
hallie walker
Posted 2 years ago. Direct link to hallie walker's post “why do I need to know thi...”
why do I need to know this
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- Jana Alzayed
  Posted a year ago. Direct link to Jana Alzayed's post “got this answer from the ...”
  got this answer from the user screenbones: Statistics is used for a lot of everyday things. While you may not personally calculate statistical values, statistics is important for business, sports, video games, politics, medicine, software, etc. No matter what field you go into, that field will use statistics in some way, shape, or form.
  Button navigates to signup page
  (7 votes)
Awais Bajwa
Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to Awais Bajwa's post “Can anyone please explain...”
Can anyone please explain the difference for

Population Standard Deviation Vs Sample Standard Deviation?
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(3 votes)
Answer
- Irving Vargas
  Posted 4 years ago. Direct link to Irving Vargas's post “Population Standard Devia...”
  Population Standard Deviation is used when you're taking ALL the data observed as a set.
  Sample Standard Deviation is used when you're takin only a SUBSET of the data observed in a set.
  Comment on Irving Vargas's post “Population Standard Devia...”
  (12 votes)
ddddaw
Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to ddddaw's post “how was the standard devi...”
how was the standard deviation determined?
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(2 votes)
Answer
- ϟ 2-XL ϟ
  Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to ϟ 2-XL ϟ's post “For this exercise, you do...”
  For this exercise, you don't have to calculate the standard deviations. Just look at the graphs and visually compare the distributions. Which distribution seems to have a wider spread of data around the mean? That is, which distribution includes points that are further from the mean (represented by the dotted line)? That is the distribution with the higher standard deviation.
  
  The next lesson has a step-by-step walk-through for calculating the standard deviation.
  Button navigates to signup page
  (5 votes)
mbrenzing28
Posted 7 months ago. Direct link to mbrenzing28's post “What is the formula for s...”
What is the formula for standard deviation?
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abbieaaffum
Posted a year ago. Direct link to abbieaaffum's post “How do you find the mode?”
How do you find the mode?
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- ClarkB
  Posted 6 months ago. Direct link to ClarkB's post “most common number”
  most common number
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parekh.vrisha
Posted 3 years ago. Direct link to parekh.vrisha's post “What can we infer from th...”
What can we infer from the data if we say that the data has huge variation or the data is spread out from the mean or the data has high std.deviation? What difference will it make in inference as opposed to the std.deviation being close to 0.
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(2 votes)
Answer
- Aiena
  Posted 2 years ago. Direct link to Aiena's post “Hi Vrisha, When the data...”
  Hi Vrisha,
  
  When the data has a high SD (e.g., SD = 25), it means that the individual data points are spread out quite a bit.
  
  On the other hand, if the data set has a smaller SD (e.g., SD = 0.3), you can infer that the data points are closer to the mean.
  Button navigates to signup page
  (2 votes)
jaymehta221427
Posted 4 years ago. Direct link to jaymehta221427's post “If Data Spread is high is...”
If Data Spread is high is good or bed ?
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- PJAS
  Posted 2 years ago. Direct link to PJAS's post “Depends on the situation,...”
  Depends on the situation, and mean. For example, let's take a movie's score. Let's say Marvel says it is a 4.5/5 movie.You would want a low MAD. But, if the score is 1/5, you would want a high MAD, like 4.
  Comment on PJAS's post “Depends on the situation,...”
  (1 vote)
ecavanaugh
Posted a month ago. Direct link to ecavanaugh's post “Set A and Set B have the ...”
Set A and Set B have the same mean. Set A has a larger standard deviation. Is it true that Set A is more likely to have larger values?
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