Dispersion

Dispersion refers to the distribution of values in a data set. In statistics, dispersion (also called variability, scatter, or spread) is the extent to which a distribution is stretched or squeezed. It includes measures such as variance, standard deviation, and interquartile range.

Definition

Dispersion is a statistical term that describes the size of the distribution of values expected for a particular variable. Dispersion can be measured by several different statistics, such as range, variance, and standard deviation. In a statistical context, dispersion is important because it tells us how much a set of scores is spread out around an average measure of variability.

Types of Dispersion

There are several measures of dispersion including:

• Range: The difference between the highest and lowest values.
• Variance: The average of the squared differences from the Mean.
• Standard Deviation: The square root of the Variance.
• Interquartile Range: The range within which the central 50% of values fall.

Importance of Dispersion

Dispersion is used in statistics because it gives a more comprehensive picture of the data. It allows for a better understanding of the distribution of data points and can help identify outliers, trends, and patterns in the data set.

See Also

• Mean
• Median
• Mode
• Central Tendency

References

Dispersion Resources
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