Practice Standard Deviation in Statistics
Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.
Quick Recap
A measure of how spread out data values are from the mean, calculated as the typical distance from the average.
If the mean is 'home base,' standard deviation tells you how far data points typically wander from home. Small SD = data clusters close to the mean (like a tight group of friends). Large SD = data is scattered (friends spread all over town).
Example 1
mediumCalculate the population standard deviation of: 4, 8, 6, 2, 10.
Example 2
hardDataset A: {5, 5, 5, 5}. Dataset B: {2, 4, 6, 8}. Without full calculation, which has a larger standard deviation and why?
Example 3
mediumCalculate the population standard deviation of: 10, 12, 14.
Example 4
mediumCalculate the population standard deviation of the data set: 3, 3, 7, 7.