Absolute Measure of Dispersion

Absolute measures of dispersion are those measures that are expressed in the same units as the data. They give us an idea of how much variation there is in the data. There are several measures of absolute dispersion, and the most common ones are range, mean deviation, and standard deviation.

Range

The range is the simplest measure of dispersion. It is the difference between the largest and smallest values in a data set. The range is expressed in the same units as the data, and it is easy to calculate. However, the range is not very reliable because it is affected by outliers.

Mean Deviation

The mean deviation is another measure of dispersion that is expressed in the same units as the data. It is calculated by finding the average of the absolute deviations of each value from the mean. The mean deviation is less affected by outliers than the range, but it is not used as often as the standard deviation.

Standard Deviation

The standard deviation is the most widely used measure of dispersion. It is a measure of how much the data is spread out around the mean. The standard deviation is calculated by finding the square root of the variance, which is the average of the squared deviations of each value from the mean. The standard deviation is expressed in the same units as the data, and it is more reliable than the range and mean deviation.

All These Measures

All three measures of dispersion (range, mean deviation, and standard deviation) are absolute measures of dispersion. They are expressed in the same units as the data, and they give us an idea of how much variation there is in the data. However, each measure has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the choice of which measure to use depends on the nature of the data and the purpose of the analysis.

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