Which statistic describes how measurements deviate from the mean?

Which statistic describes how measurements deviate from the mean?

• A. Mean
• B. Standard deviation
• C. Range
• D. Variance

Answer: (B)

Measuring how measurements deviate from the mean focuses on how spread out the data are around the average. The standard deviation quantifies this by indicating the average distance of each data point from the mean. It’s derived from the variance by taking its square root, so it shares the same units as the data, which makes interpretation intuitive in a lab setting. The variance is related but expressed in squared units, which can be harder to interpret. The range only tells the difference between the highest and lowest values, showing overall spread but not how measurements cluster around the mean. The mean indicates the center of the data, not its dispersion.

Measuring how measurements deviate from the mean focuses on how spread out the data are around the average. The standard deviation quantifies this by indicating the average distance of each data point from the mean. It’s derived from the variance by taking its square root, so it shares the same units as the data, which makes interpretation intuitive in a lab setting. The variance is related but expressed in squared units, which can be harder to interpret. The range only tells the difference between the highest and lowest values, showing overall spread but not how measurements cluster around the mean. The mean indicates the center of the data, not its dispersion.