Dispersion is the state of getting dispersed or spread.
Statistical dispersion means
the extent to which a numerical data is likely to vary about an average value. In
other words, dispersion helps to understand the distribution of the data.
In statistics, dispersion is the extent to which a distribution is stretched or squeezed.
Two data sets can have the same mean but they can be entirely different. Thus to
describe data, one needs to know the extent of variability.
Types of Measures of Dispersion
There are two main types of dispersion methods in statistics which are:
● Absolute Measure of Dispersion
● Relative Measure of Dispersion
1) Absolute Measure of Dispersion
An absolute measure of dispersion contains the same unit as the original data set.
Absolute dispersion method expresses the variations in terms of the average of
deviations of observations like standard or means deviations. It includes range,
standard deviation, quartile deviation, etc.
The types of absolute measures of dispersion are:
1. Range (R): It is simply the difference between the maximum value and the
minimum value given in a data set.
R= L-S
● Higher value of Range implies higher dispersion and vice-versa.
● For the purpose of comparison, coefficient of Range is used.
Coefficient of Range = L-S / L+S
Example: 1, 3,5, 6, 7 => Range = 7 -1= 6
2. Variance: Deduct the mean from each data in the set then squaring each of
them and adding each square and finally dividing them by the total no of
values in the data set is the variance.
It is the expectation of the squared deviation of a random variable from its
mean, and it informally measures how far a set of (random) numbers are
spread out from their mean.
Variance (σ2)=∑(X−μ)2/N
1. Standard Deviation: The square root of the variance is known as the
standard deviation.
Standard deviation (SD, also represented by the Greek letter sigma σ or the
Latin letter s) is a measure that is used to quantify the amount of variation or
dispersion of a set of data values.
S.D. = √σ.
1. Quartiles and Quartile Deviation: The quartiles are values that divide a list
of numbers into quarters. If the statistical series is divided into four equal
parts, the end value of each part is called a quartile.
1st Quartile (Q1) is also known as lower quartile.
2nd Quartile (Q2) is same as Median of the series.
3rd Quartile (Q3) is also known as upper quartile.
Q1 = Size of {(N+1)/4}th item of the series.
Q3= Size of 3{(N+1)/4}th item of the series.
N = No of items for individual series and sum of frequencies in case of
discrete series.
Inter Quartile Range= The difference between 3rd quartile and 1st quartile of
a series is called Inter Quartile Range.
Inter Quartile Range= Q3 – Q1
Quartile Deviation = The quartile deviation is half of the distance between
the third and the first quartile.
Quartile Deviation= (Q3-Q1) / 2
Coefficient Of Quartile Deviation = Q3-Q1/Q3+Q1
1. Mean and Mean Deviation: The average of numbers is known as the mean
and the arithmetic mean of the absolute deviations of the observations
from a measure of central tendency is known as the mean deviation (also
called mean absolute deviation).
In simple terms, it is defined as “how far, on average, all values are from the
middle”.
Example: the Mean Deviation of 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 11, 15, 16 Step
1: Find the mean:
Mean = (3 + 6 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 11 + 15 + 16) / 8 = 72/8 = 9
Step 2: Find the distance of each value from that mean:
Distance
Value
from 9
3 6
6 3
6 3
7 2
8 1
11 2
15 6
16 7
(No minus signs!)
Step 3. Find the mean of those distances:
Mean Deviation = (6 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 6 + 7)/8 = 30/8 = 3.75
So, the mean = 9, and the mean deviation = 3.75
Relative Measure of Dispersion
The relative measures of dispersion are used to compare the distribution of two
or more data sets. This measure compares values without units. Common relative
dispersion methods include:
1. Co-efficient of Range
2. Co-efficient of Variation
3. Co-efficient of Standard Deviation
4. Co-efficient of Quartile Deviation
5. Co-efficient of Mean Deviation
Co-efficient of Dispersion
The coefficients of dispersion are calculated (along with the measure of
dispersion) when two series are compared, that differ widely in their averages.
The dispersion coefficient is also used when two series with different
measurement units are compared. It is denoted as C.D.
The common coefficients of dispersion are:
C.D. In Terms of Coefficient of dispersion
Range C.D. = (Xmax – Xmin) ⁄ (Xmax + Xmin)
Quartile Deviation C.D. = (Q3 – Q1) ⁄ (Q3 + Q1)
Standard Deviation (S.D.) C.D. = S.D. ⁄ Mean
Mean Deviation C.D. = Mean deviation/Average
Relative Measure of Dispersion
The relative measures of dispersion are used to compare the distribution of two
or more data sets. This measure compares values without units. Common relative
dispersion methods include:
1. Co-efficient of Range
2. Co-efficient of Variation
3. Co-efficient of Standard Deviation
4. Co-efficient of Quartile Deviation
5. Co-efficient of Mean Deviation
1) Co-efficient of Range:
It is defined as the relative measure of the distribution based on the
range of any given data set, which is the difference between the
maximum and minimum value in the given set. It is also known as range
coefficient.
Coefficient of Range Formula:
s = (xm- xo)/(xm + xo)
Where xm = Maximum Value xo = Minimum Value
Range is the difference between the highest and the lowest value of
frequency for a given frequency distribution, the coefficient of range on the
other hand is the ratio of difference between the highest and lowest value
of frequency to the sum of highest and lowest value of frequency.
Range = Highest value of frequency – Lowest value of frequency.
Coefficient of Range = (Highest value of frequency – Lowest value of frequency) /
(Highest value of frequency + Lowest value of frequency).
Example:
1. Find out the range and the coefficient of range in the following data,
Data = 8, 5, 6, 7, 3, 2, 4
Step 1: Find Range
Range = Maximum Value - Minimum Value
Range = 8 - 2
Range = 6
Step 2: Find Range Coefficient
Coefficient of Range = (Maximum Value - Minimum Value) / (Maximum Value +
Minimum Value)
= (8 - 2) / (8 + 2)
= 6 / 10
Coefficient of Range = 0.6
2. Find out the coefficient of range in the following data:
Marks No of Student
0-5 1
5-10 2
10-15 6
15-20 4
20-25 7
Range = 7-1 = 6
Coefficient of Range = (7-1) / (7+1) = 6 / 8 = 0.75
3. If the range and the smallest value of a set of data are 36.8 and 13.4
respectively, then find the largest value.
2) Coefficient of Standard Deviation (SD)
The standard deviation is the absolute measure of dispersion. Its relative measure
is called the standard coefficient of dispersion or coefficient of standard deviation.
It is defined as:
Coefficient of Standard Deviation= S / X
3) Coefficient of Variation
The coefficient of variation (CV), also known as relative standard deviation
(RSD), is a standardized measure of dispersion of a probability distribution
or frequency distribution.
4) Coefficient of Quartile
The Quartile Deviation is equal to the half of the Inter-Quartile Range and thus we
can write it as –
Qd=Q3–Q1 / 2
Therefore, we also call it the Semi Inter-Quartile Range.
A relative measure of dispersion, known as the Coefficient of Quartile Deviation,
can be defined for any distribution. It is formally defined as –
Coefficient of Quartile Deviation = (Q3–Q1)/(Q3+Q1)×100
Since it involves a ratio of two quantities of the same dimensions, it is unit-less.
Thus, it can act as a suitable parameter for comparing two or more different
datasets which may or may not involve quantities with the same dimensions.
For ungrouped data:
Q1 = (n + 1)/ 4 Q3
= 3(n +1)/ 4
For grouped data:
Question 1: The number of vehicles sold by a Maruti Showroom in a day was
recorded for 10 working days. The data is given as –
Day Frequency
1
20
2 15
3 18
4 5
5 10
6 17
7 21
8 19
9 25
10
28
Find the Quartile Deviation and its coefficient for the given discrete distribution
case.
Solution: We first need to sort the frequency data given to us before proceeding
with the quartiles calculation –
Sorted Data – 5, 10, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 28 n(number
of data points) = 10
Now, to find the quartiles, we use the logic that the first quartile lies halfway
between the lowest value and the median; and the third quartile lies halfway
between the median and the largest value.
First Quartile Q1 = (n+1) /4 th term.
= (10+1 ) /4 th term = 2.75th term
= 2nd term + 0.75 × (3rd term – 2nd term)
= 10 + 0.75 × (15 – 10)
= 10 + 3.75
= 13.75
Third Quartile Q3 = 3(n+1) /4 th term.
= 3(10+1)/4 th term = 8.25th term
= 8th term + 0.25 × (9th term – 8th term)
= 21 + 0.25 × (25 – 21)
= 21 + 1
= 22
Using the values for Q1 and Q3, now we can calculate the Quartile Deviation and
its coefficient as follows –
Quartile Deviation = Semi-Inter Quartile Range
= (Q3–Q1) / 2
= (22–13.75) / 2
=8.25 / 2
= 4.125
Coefficient of Quartile Deviation
= Q3–Q1/Q3+Q1 * 100
= (22–13.75)/(22+13.75) * 100 ≈
23.08
5) Coefficient of Mean Deviation
The coefficient of mean deviation is calculated by dividing mean deviation
by the average.
If deviations are taken from mean, we divide it by mean, if the deviations
are taken from median, then it is divided by mode and if the “deviations
are taken from median, then we divide mean deviation by median.
a) Coefficient of M.D (about mean) = Mean Deviation from Mean / Mean
b) Coefficient of M.D (about median) = Mean Deviation from Median/ Median
c) Coefficient of M.D (about mode) = Mean Deviation from Mode / Mode
Example:
Calculate the mean deviation from the (1) arithmetic mean (2) median (3) mode in
respect to the marks obtained by nine students given below and show that the
mean deviation from the median is the minimum.
Marks (out of 25): 7, 4, 10, 9, 15, 12, 7, 9, 7
Solution:
After arranging the observations in ascending order, we get
Marks: 4, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10, 12, 15
Question.2
Standard Deviation & Coefficient Variation
Standard Deviation:
⮚ Standard deviation is the measure of dispersion of a set of data from its
mean.
⮚ It measures the absolute variability of a distribution.
⮚ Standard deviation (SD, also represented by the Greek letter sigma σ or the
Latin letter s) is a measure that is used to quantify the amount of variation or
dispersion of a set of data values.
S.D. = √σ
⮚ It shows a typical deviation from the mean. The formula for standard
deviation is given by:
Properties of Standard Deviation
1. Standard deviation cannot be negative.
2. It is only used to measure spread or dispersion around the mean of a data set.
3. It shows how much variation or dispersion exists from the average value.
4. It is sensitive to outliers. A single outlier can raise σ and in turn, distort the
picture of spread.
5. For data with almost the same mean, the greater the spread, the greater the
standard deviation.
6. Standard deviation can be used in conjunction with the mean in order to
calculate data intervals when analyzing normally distributed data.
Coefficient of Variation
The most important of all the relative measures of dispersion is the coefficient of
variation. This word is variation not variance.
The coefficient of variation (CV), also known as relative standard deviation
(RSD), is a standardized measure of dispersion of a probability distribution or
frequency distribution.
The coefficient of variation (C.V) is defined as:
Thus C.V is the value of S.D when Mean is assumed to be 100.
It is a pure number and the unit of observation is not mentioned with its value. It
is written in percentage form like 20% or 25%.
When its value is 20%, it means that when the mean of the observations is
assumed equal to 100, their standard deviation will be 20.
The C.V is used to compare the dispersion in different sets of data particularly the
data which differ in their means or differ in their units of measurement.
Numericals:
1. Example:
Calculate the coefficient of standard deviation and coefficient of variation for the
following sample data: 2, 4, 8, 6, 10, and 12.
Example: 2
Calculate the coefficient of standard deviation and coefficient of variation from
the following distribution of marks:
Example: 3
The mean of a data is 25.6 and its coefficient of variation is 18.75. Find the
standard deviation.
Solution
Mean = 25. 6 , Coefficient of variation, C.V. = 18.75 Coefficient
of variation, C.V. = σ/ ×100%
Example: 4. If the standard deviation of a data is 4.5 and if each value of the data
is decreased by 5, then find the new standard deviation.
Example: 5. If the standard deviation of a data is 3.6 and each value of the
data is divided by 3, then find the new variance and new standard deviation.