Why do we need to study the variation of a collection of data? Why isn’t the average by itself adequate?

Write a brief but complete essay, in which you summarize the main points.

Please include jormulas and graphs as appropriate.

We have studied three ways to measure variation: the range, standard deviation, box-and whisker plot. They all indicate the variation within data collection.

Discuss similarities and differences among these ways to measure data variation.

• Why would it seem reasonable to pair the median with a box-and-whisker plot & to pair the mean with the standard deviation?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method of describing data spread?

Comment on statements such as following:

a) The range is easy to compute, but it doesn’t give much information;

b)

Although the standard deviation is more complicated to compute, it has some significant applications;

c) The box-and-whisker plot is fairly easy to construct and it gives a lot of information at a glance.