Recognising the spread of data

Lesson

Practice

Lesson

We've already learnt about the range, which is a measure of spread in a data set. Once we are able to calculate the range in a data set, we can start to compare and make judgments about different data sets and potentially spot any outliers.

Now let's compare the spread of some data sets and graphs.

Worked Examples

Question 1

Look at the data sets below. Which data set has the largest range?

$101,105,118,129,136$101,105,118,129,136
A
$19,23,25,28,29$19,23,25,28,29
B
$22,25,43,64$22,25,43,64
C
$104,107,113,120,125$104,107,113,120,125
D

QUESTION 2

Do the dot plots shown have the same range?

Yes
A
No
B

Outcomes

11.SP.S.1

Measure of dispersion; mean deviation, variance and standard deviation of ungrouped/grouped data. Analysis of frequency distributions with equal means but different variances.