6.

3 Measures of Dispersion
OBJECTIVE
By the end of the lecture, student should be
able to find:

(a) Find & interpret variance and standard

deviation for ungrouped data
(b) Find & interpret variance and standard
deviation for grouped data
(c) Find and interpret the Pearson’s
coefficient of skewness
 Data

Ungrouped Data Grouped Data

• Variance • Variance
• Standard Deviation • Standard Deviation
 Ungrouped Data

x
Mean x
n

s
2
 x
2


 x
2

n1 n(n1)
Variance 2

 fx
2


 fx 2

s  f 1 ( f )( f 1)

Standard
s s 2
Deviation
 Example 1

Find the mean, variance and standard deviation

for the data below:

2, 7, 10, 9, 2, 5, 16

Solution

 x 51
n7 Mean, x  
n 7
 x  51
x  7.286
Continue…

For variance, s 2 ,
2
s  x
2


 x
2

n1 n(n1)
x
2
x2
4
s
2

519

51   2

7 49 71 7(71)
10 100
 86.5  61.93
2
9 81 s
2 4
 24.57
2
5 25 s
16 256
 x  51  x  519
2 s  24.57
s  4.96
 Exercise 2
Find the mean and standard deviation for the
data below:
x 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.5

f 18 23 6 2 1
 SOLUTION 2

2 2
x f x fx fx
0.5 18 0.25 9 4.5

1.5 23 2.25 34.5 51.75

2.5 6 6.25 15 37.5

3.5 2 12.25 7 24.5

4.5 1 20.25 4.5 20.25

2
 f  50  fx  70  fx  138.5

Answer: Mean = 1.4 Standard deviation = 0.909

 Grouped Data

 fx x  Class midpoint
Mean x
f f  Frequency

Variance
2

 fx
2


 fx 2

s  f 1 ( f )( f 1)

Standard
s s 2
Deviation
 Example 3

Find the mean, variance and standard deviation

for the data below:

Marks Frequency
0  x  20 9
20  x  40 29
40  x  60 42
60  x  80 26
80  x  100 14
 Solution

Marks 2
f Midpoint, fx fx
x
0  x < 20 9 10 90 900
20  x < 40 29 30 870 26100
40  x < 60 42 50 2100 105000
60  x < 80 26 70 1820 127400
80  x < 100 14 90 1260 113400
n =120  fx  6140  fx 2  372800

 fx 6140
Mean, x    51.17
n 120
Continue…
2

 fx
2


 fx2

s  f 1 ( f )( f 1)

2
s 
372800

6140  2

(1201) (120)(1201)

s 2  492.75 #

Standard deviation, s  492.75

s  22.198 #
 Pearson Coefficient Of Skewness

The Pearson coefficient of skewness provides a

numerical measure of the skewness of a distribution
Denoted by Sk , it is calculated as follows :

3(mean  median) (mean  mode)

Sk  OR Sk 
standard deviation standard deviation

Note : 3(mean  median)  mean  mode

If Sk   ve ;  the distribution is positively skewed.
If Sk   ve ;  the distribution is negatively skewed.
 Example 4
Find the Pearson's coefficient of skewness.
1.2, 1.5, 1.9, 2.4, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 3.0, 3.5, 3.8
Solution
 x  24.8 , n  10
( x )
2

x 24.8 x  n 2

mean    2.48 s.d, s 

n 10 n 1
median  2.45 mode  2.4
615.04
67.52 
( x)  615.04
2
10
s
9
 x  67.52
2

s  0.8175
Continue…

3(mean  median) mean  mode

Sk  OR S k 
standard deviation standard deviation
2.48  2.4
3(2.48  2.45) 
 0.8176
0.8176
 0.098
 0.1101

 Since Sk  0, the distribution is skewed to the right.

 Example 5

In exam, the marks of 120 students is given as below

 fx  3108   82398 mode  27.6

fx 2

Find the mean, standard deviation and Pearson's

coefficient of skewness for the distribution and
interpret the result.

Solution

Mean 
 fx 
3108
 25.9
n 120
Continue…

(3108) 2
82398  (mean  mode)
s 
2 120 Sk 
119 standard deviation
 15.97 25.9  27.6

3.997
s  3.997  0.425

The distribution is skewed to the left.

 Exercise 2
The marks for 400 KMM students in the first quiz
are given below:
Marks Number of students
0-9 44
10-19 56
20-29 64
30-39 78
40-49 60
50-59 40
60-69 36
70-79 18
80-89 4
Estimate the mean, median and standard deviation
for the above sample. By calculating Person’s
Coefficient of Skewness, state the type of
distribution for the data given.

Answers

Mean = 35.3

Median = 34.1

Standard Deviation = 20.1

Person’s coefficient of skewness = 0.179

(Skewed to the right)
 SYMMETRY AND SKEWNESS

Box & Whisker Frequency Pearson’s

Plot Curve Coefficient
Q1 M Q3
3(mean  median)
Sk 
Median located in the middle standard deviation
of the box Mode=Median=Mean
(Symmetrical distribution) (Symmetrical distribution)

Q1 M Q3 (mean  mode)
Sk 
standard deviation

Median located to the left of

the centre line of the box Mode<Median<Mean
(Positively skewed) (Positively skewed)

Q1 M Q3

Median located to the right of

the centre line of the box Mean<Median<Mode
(Negatively skewed) (Negatively skewed)