Measures of Dispersion

Suprakas Hazra
KPC Medical College
Asst . Professor cum Statistician
KPC Medical College, Kolkata

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 Dispersion- meaning
scattering of data from its central value
- Sometimes we get two sets of data with same
location but different dispersion .
- Again sometimes we may get data with same
variability but different locations
- Alone Central tendency cannot provide the complete
idea of a distribution.
- To get the true picture idea on dispersion is required
which measures consistency or stability of the data.
- Less scattered data is more consistent.
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 Same location, Different variability
Weights of 5 students of 2 schools A & B given below
students Weights (kg) of Weights (kg) of
School A School B
1 50 46
2 52 50
3 54 54
4 56 58
5 58 62
Total 270 270
Mean 54 kg 54 kg
Range 58- 50 = 8 kg 62 – 46 = 16 kg

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 Same variability, Different location
(Weights of 5 students of 2 schools A & B given below )
students Weights (kg) of Weights (kg) of
School A School B
1 50 50
2 52 51
3 54 52
4 56 54
5 58 58
Total 270 265
Mean 54 kg 53 kg
Range 58- 50 = 8 kg 58 – 50 = 8 kg

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 Measures of dispersion
Measures
Of
Dispersion

Absolute Relative

Mean Quartile Standard Coeff. of Coeff. of Coeff. of Coeff. of

Range Deviation( Deviation Deviation Range M.D. Q.D. Variation
M.D)

M.D. M.D.
M.D about
about about
Mean
Median Mode

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 Range : Range is the difference between smallest and largest value

Example : Compare the Range of the students A and B

B in 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Marks 5th 6th 7th Total Average
class tests marks marks
Student A 45 48 46 54 57 45 55 350 50

Student B 62 45 48 25 70 35 65 350 50

Solution : Arranging marks in ascending order

Student A : 45,45,46,48, 54,55,57 , Range : 57 – 45 = 12
Student B : 25,35,45, 48, 62,65,70 , Range : 70 – 25 = 35
Since Student A has lower range than B , hence Student A is more stable.

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 Standard Deviation ( without frequency): -
Definition
• Standard Deviation ( without frequency):
- Let x1, x2, …….., xn be n observations and
x̅ = ∑ x / n , it’s Arithmetic Mean
then its standard deviation is given as:
S.D.(x) = √ ∑ ( x - x̅) 2/ n

It is denoted by σ or S.

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 Steps to find S.D. ( Without frequency)

• Find ∑ x
• Find x̅ = ∑ x / n , n is number of observations
• Deduct x̅ from each x to get (x-x)̅ .
• Find ( x - x̅ ) 2 .
• Get Σ ( x - x̅ ) 2
• Obtain Σ ( x - x̅ ) 2 / n
• Get its positive square root = √ Σ ( x - x̅ ) 2 / n
which is Required = S.D.
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 Example: Standard Deviation
• The APGAR ( Appearance, Pulse, Grimace,
Activity and respiration ) score of 8 newborns
are given below. Find the standard deviation .
Newborns 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

APGAR 7 5 6 5 6 7 8 4
scores

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 Solution : Standard Deviation
Newborns Apgar Score (X) ( x - x̅) ( x - x̅) 2

1 7 1 1
2 5 -1 1
3 6 0 0
4 5 -1 1
5 6 0 0
6 7 1 1
7 8 2 4
8 4 -2 4
Total ( n =8) ∑ x = 48 ∑ ( x - x̅) =0 ∑ ( x - x̅) 2 = 12
x̅ = 48/8 =6 SD(x) = √ ∑ ( x - x̅) 2/ n = √ 12/8 =
√1.5 = 1.22

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 Standard Deviation ( with frequency):
Definition
• Standard Deviation ( with frequency)
- Let x1, x2, …….., xn be n observations with
respective frequencies f1, f2, …….., fn such that
∑ fi = N and x̅ = ∑ xi fi / N it’s Arithmetic
Mean, then its standard deviation is given as:
S.D.(x) = √ ∑ ( xi - x̅ ) 2 fi / N

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Steps to find S.D. ( With frequency)
• Find N = Σ f = total frequency.
• Multiply ’ x ‘ with its respective class frequencies’ f’ to get x f &
find ∑ x f
• Find x̅ = ∑ x f / N
• Deduct x̅ from each x to get (x-x)̅ .
• Find ( x - x̅ ) 2 .
• Multiply ( x - x̅ ) 2 with its respective ’ f’ to find f ( x - x̅ ) 2
• Get Σ f ( x - x̅ ) 2
• Obtain Σ f ( x - x̅ ) 2 / N
• Get its positive square root = √ Σ f ( x - x̅ ) 2 / N which is
Required = S.D.
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 Example: Standard deviation
• Pulse rate of 80 persons are given below. Find
the standard deviation
Pulse 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 Total
rate

Number 5 10 15 20 15 10 5 80
of
persons

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 Example: Standard deviation contd..
X f xf ( x - x̅) ( x - x̅) 2 f ( x - x̅) 2
70 5 350 -3 9 45
71 10 710 -2 4 40
72 15 1080 -1 1 15
73 20 1460 0 0 0
74 15 1110 1 1 15
75 10 750 2 4 40
76 5 380 3 9 45
Total N=80 5840 28 200

Mean (x̅ )= ∑ x f / N = 5840/80=73 200=

∑( x - x̅ ) 2 f
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 Example: Standard deviation contd..
• S.D.(x) = √ ∑ ( x - x̅ ) 2 f / N
= √ 200/80
= √ 200/80= √ 2.5 = 1.58
Variance : Square of standard deviation is called
variance. Therefore the formula for variance is
= ∑ ( x - x̅ ) 2 / n ( without frequency)
= ∑ ( x - x̅ ) 2 f / N ( with frequency)
Out of four absolute measures of dispersion only two
were discussed.
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 Coefficient of Variation
If we have two sets of data with different means , then to compare the
consistency between them coefficient of variation is used where

Coefficient of variation(C.V.) = ( S.d / Mean )x 100%

The set with minimum C.V. is more consistent than the other

For the previous example

C.V. = ( 1.58 / 73 ) x 100% = 2.16%

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The marks of 10 students in two colleges A & B are given below :
The marks of which college is more consistent?

College A College B
65 45
54 78
45 65
78 87
56 56
68 53
82 42
45 65
58 83
76 73

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 The requisites of a good measure of dispersion

A measure of dispersion is a good one if it has the properties:

• It is rigidly defined i.e. the same data should produce the
same results applying all the methods.
• It should be easy to understand.
• It should be easy to calculate.
• It should be based on all the items so that even if one
observation is changed, the result changes.
• It should be amenable to further algebraic treatments.
• It should not be affected much by extreme items.
- It is observed that standard deviation is the best measure of
Dispersion
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 Exercises (without frequency ) :
Exercise 1 : The pulse rate per minute of 10 students in a class
are obtained as : 80, 90, 96, 80, 94, 72, 84, 92, 82, 90.
Find the Standard Deviation
Exercise 2 : In a diet survey of antenatal mothers, it was
revealed that the iron intake (in mg) of a sample of 10
mothers were as follows:
21, 28, 26, 15, 22, 10, 22, 11, 13, 8.
Find the Standard Deviation

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 Exercise (with frequency ) :
Exercise 3 : The size of a group of 80 families are as follows
Find the standard deviation
Family 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total
Size
Number 5 10 15 20 15 10 5 80
of
families

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 Example : S,D. for Grouped data
• The age( yrs) distribution of 56 people are
given below : Find the S.D. and C.V.
Age ( Yrs) No. of persons
0-9 5
10-19 8
20-29 12
30-39 15
40-49 10
50-59 6
Total 56

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 Thank You
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