Basic Technical Mathematics, 11th Edition

22.3 Standard Deviation

• Population • Sample • Standard Deviation of Sample • Calculator 1-Var Stats • Interpreting Standard Deviation

In using statistics, we generally collect a sample of data and draw certain conclusions about the complete collection of possible values. In statistics, the complete collection of values (measurements, people, scores, etc.) is called the population, and a sample is a subset of the population. In the applied examples and exercises of the previous two sections, we were using samples taken from larger populations.

We have discussed various ways of measuring the center of sample data. However, regardless of the measure that may be used, it does not tell us whether the values of the population tend to be grouped ...