MEASURES OF VARIABILITY

Chapter Objectives:
At the end of the chapter, the students will be able to:
1. define and understand the concept of the range, mean absolute deviation and
standard deviation;
2. know the characteristics of the range, mean absolute deviation and standard
deviation;
3. compute manually the range, mean absolute deviation and standard deviation.

Range

The range is the simplest but the most unreliable measure of variability since it uses only
two values in the distribution. It is a poor measure of variation particularly if the given sample or
population is large. To get the range of the set of scores, subtract the lowest score from the
highest score.
Range=Highest Score – Lowest Score

Example: A group of selected Fine Arts students went to Tagum City to join the Durian
Festival last August, 2009. The ages of the students were 16, 20, 19, 17, and
16. What is the range of their ages?

Solution:
Height Age = 20
Lowest Age = 16

Range = Highest Score – Lowest Score

= 20 – 16
= 4

Therefore, the range of their ages is 4.

Mean Absolute Deviation

The mean absolute deviation (MAD) is the average of the summation of the absolute
deviation of each observation from the mean. This is the simplest measure of variability that
takes into account all data in the distribution.

Formula for the Ungrouped Data: MAD=

∑ ¿ x− x ´/¿ ¿
N
where
MAD = Mean Absolute Deviation
x = raw score
x́ = mean score
N = number of observations
 Formula for the Grouped Data: MAD=
∑ f / x− x´/¿ ¿
N
where
MAD = Mean Absolute Deviation
f = frequency
x = class mark
x́ = mean score
N = number of observations

Example: A group of selected Fine Arts students went to Tagum City to join the Durian
Festival last August, 2009. The ages of the students were 16, 20, 19, 17, and 16.
What is the MAD?

Solution: The ages of the selected Fine Arts students were: 16, 20, 19, 17 and 16.

16+20+19+ 17+16
Mean Age= =17.6
5
x x−x́ ¿ x− x /´¿ ¿
16 -1.6 1.6
20 2.4 2.4
19 1.4 1.4
17 -0.6 0.6
16 -1.6 1.6
Total 7.6
7.6
MAD= =1.52
5

Therefore, the mean absolute deviation is 1.52

Variance
Variance is the average of the squared deviation from the mean. This considers the position
of each observation relative to the mean of the data set. This aims to obtain a single numerical
measure of variation that incorporates all the deviations from the mean.

Formula of Variance for the Ungrouped Data:

a. Population Variance for Ungrouped Data

σ 2N =
∑ ( x−μ)2
N
where
σ 2N = population variance
x = raw score
μ = population mean
N = number of observations

b. Sample Variance for Ungrouped Data

2 ∑ ( x − x́¿)2
SN−1 = ¿
N−1
where
S2N−1 = sample variance
x = raw score
x́ = sample mean

Example: Compute the variance of the grades in Mathematics 1 of 5 students. The

following are the scores: 70, 100, 95, 80 and 60.

70+100+95+ 80+60
Solution: Get the mean, x= =81
5

x x́ x−x́ ( x−x́ )2
70 81 −11 121
100 81 19 361
95 81 14 196
80 81 −1 1
60 81 −21 441
TOTAL 1120
 2 ∑ ( x−μ)2 1120
Treating as population, σ = = =224 (VARIANCE),,,,Sd= 14.97
N
N 5

(x − x́¿)2 1120 1120

Treating as sample, S2N−1= ∑ = = =280 ¿(VARIANCE),,sd =
N−1 5−1 4
16.70

Standard Deviation

The standard deviation, σ for a population or s for a sample, is the square root of the
average deviation from the mean or simply the square root of the variable.

a. Population Standard Deviation (σ )

σ =√ σ 2N

b. Sample Standard Deviation (s)

s= √ s2N−1

Computation of Standard Deviation for Ungrouped data

Example: Find the population variance and population standard deviation, sample
variance and sample standard deviation of the ages of Fines Arts students
who went to Tagum City for the Durian Festival. The ages are 16, 20, 19, 17
and 16.

Mean Age=17.6

x ¿ x−x́ /¿ ¿
16 1.6 2.56
20 2.4 5.76
19 1.4 1.96
17 0.6 0.36
16 1.6 2.56
Total 13.2

Solution:
a. Population Variance:
 σ 2N =
∑ ( x−μ)2 =
13.2
= 2.64
N 5

b. Population Standard Deviation:

σ =√ σ 2N ¿ √ 2.64 = 1.62

c. Sample Variance:

2 ∑ (x − x́¿)2
S N−1 = ¿
N−1

13.2
S2N−1 = =3.3
4

d. Sample Standard Deviation:

s= √ s2N−1

s= √ 3.3 = 1.82
Exercises : Measures of Variability
Name: ________________________________________________Score: ________________
Year, Course and Section: _________________________________Date: ________________

On 10-day a restaurant had the following number of orders for fried chicken & chicken adobo

Fried Chicken: 46, 55, 43, 48, 54, 65, 36, 40, 51, 53
Chicken Adobo:39, 41, 25, 30, 46, 36, 37, 23, 30, 33

Fill in the table below. Then answer the questions:

Measurement Fried Adobo

Range
Variance
Standard Deviation

1. Which data are more consistent? ___________________

2. Which data are more variable? ___________________

Formula of Variance for Grouped Data

a. Population Variance for Grouped Data

σ 2N =
∑ f (x−μ)2
N
where
σ 2N = population variance
f = frequency
x = class mark
μ = population mean
N = number of observations

Computation
b. Sampleof Variance
Variance and Standard
for Grouped Data Deviation for Grouped data

2
2 N ∑ fx 2 −( ∑ f x¿)
S N−1 = ¿
N (N−1)
where
S2N−1 = sample variance
 Example: Compute for the population variance and population standard deviation,
sample variance and sample standard deviation from the survey of the
amount of time in minutes spent daily in playing video games of selected
college students of Philippine Women’s College of Davao.

No. of Frequenc Class fx /x - x f/x - x / x2 fx 2 f¿

Minutes y Mark /
(f) (x)
10 – 29 8 19.5 156 59.5 476 380.25 3,042 28,322
30 – 49 12 39.5 474 39.5 474 1,560.25 18,723 18,723
50 – 69 25 59.5 1,487 19.5 487.5 3,540.25 88,506.25 9,506.25
.5
70 – 89 30 79.5 .5 15 6,320.25 189,607.5 7.5
2,385
90 – 109 20 99.5 20.5 410 9,900.25 198,005 8,405
1,990
110 – 25 119.5 2,987. 40.5 1,012.5 14,280.25 357,006.2 41,006.25
129 5 5
N = 120 ∑ fx=9480 2,875 ∑ fx2=854,890
∑ f (x− x́ )2=105,970

x́=
∑ fx = 9480 =79 Range = 129.5 – 9.5= 120
N 120
2875
MAD = =23.96
120
Solutions:

a. Population Variance

2 ∑ f ( x−μ)2
σ N =
N

105,970
σ 2N = =883.08
120

b. Population Standard Deviation

σ =√ σ 2N = √ 883.08=29.72

c. Sample Variance
2
2 N ∑ fx 2 −( ∑ f x¿)
S N−1= ¿
N (N−1)
S2N−1=120 ( 854890 )−¿ ¿

d. Sample Standard Deviation

s= √ s2N−1= √ 890.50=29.84

Note: : Measures of Variability

Exercises
Name:The higher the variance, the more variable or far apart are the values
____________________________________________________ from
Score: each other.
_____________
Year, Course and Section: _____________________________________ Date: ______________

1. The data below show the frequency distribution of the selected 1 st Year PWC College
Students’ daily allowance.
Daily Allowance Frequency
51 – 75 2
76 – 100 5
101 – 125 10
126 – 150 9
151 – 175 11
176 – 200 9
201 – 225 10

Calculate the following:

a. Sample Variance

b. Sample Standard Deviation

c. Population Variance
d. Population Standard Deviation