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Merits and Demerits of range
Merits
1. It is rigidly defined.
2. It is easy to calculate and understand
Demerits
1. It is not based on all the observations.
2. It is affected by extreme vales.
3. It cannot be obtained for open end classes.
4. It is not suitable for further mathematical treatment.
5. Range is very much affected by fluctuations of sampling
(Its value varies very widely from sample to sample).

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• To get the relative measure (coefficient of
quartile deviation) we use the formula

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Merits and Demerits of quartile deviation
Merits
1. It is rigidly defined.
2. As against range which was based on two observations only, Q.D makes
use of 50% of the data and as such is obviously a better measure than
range.
3. Since Q.D ignores 25% of the data from the beginning of the distribution
and another 25% of the data from the top end, it is not affected at all by
extreme observations.
4. It can be computed from the frequency distribution with open end
classes.
Demerits
1. It is not based on all observations.
2. It is affected considerably by fluctuations of sampling.
3. It is not suitable for further mathematical treatment.

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Merits and Demerits of Mean Deviation
Merits
1. It is rigidly defined and is easy to understand and calculate.
2. It is based on all observations.
3. The averaging the absolute deviations from an average irons
out the irregularities in the distribution and thus mean
deviation provides an accurate and true measure of dispersion.
4. As compared with standard deviation( discussed in the next
article 4.6 ) it is less affected by extreme observations.

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Demerits

1. The stronger objection against mean deviation is that while computing its
value we take the absolute value of the observations about an average
and ignore the signs of the deviations.
2. The step of ignoring the signs of the deviations is mathematically
unsound and illogical. It creates artificiality and renders mean deviation
useless for further mathematical treatment.
3. I t is not satisfactory measure when taken about mode or while dealing
with a fairly skewed distribution.
4. It is rarely used in sociological studies.
5. It cannot be computed for distribution with open end classes.

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i.e. Let X1,X2,X3,…,XN be measurements on N
population units, the population variance,
denoted by  , is given by
2

 X  
2
i
2  i 1
, for i  1,2,..., N
N
Where  is the population mean.

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The sample variance of the set x1, x2, x3,…,xn,
of n observations is given by the formula,
for i=1,2,…,n.
n

x i
Where x is the sample mean, .i.e. x  i 1

n
.

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Rounding Rule for the Standard Deviation
The rounding rule for the standard deviation is
the same as that for the mean. The final
answer should be rounded to one more
decimal place than that of the original data.

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Solution In continuous frequency distributions each class is to be represented by its class mark.

Marks Number of Mid-point f i xi xi2 f i xi2

0-10 5 5 25 25 125
10-20 8 15 120 225 1800
20-30 15 25 375 625 9375
30-40 16 35 560 1225 1960
40-50 6 45 270 2025 12150

Total 50 1350 43050

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Merits and Demerits of Standard Deviation
Merits
1. It is rigidly defined.
2. It is based on all observations.
3. It is suitable for further mathematical treatment.
4. Of all measures of dispersion, standard deviation is affected
least by fluctuations of sampling.
Demerits
1. It is not easy to compute and understand for non-mathematical
person.
2. It cannot be computed for distribution with open end classes.

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Example 4.18 The first year students of AU have a mean
score of 80 in mathematics and the standard deviation was
20. The mean age of the students was 20 years with standard
deviation of 4 years. Compare the relative dispersion in the
two distributions using the C.V.
Solution The distributions are in different units. They are
converted below to the coefficient of variation.
For the test scores: the S.D is 25 percent of the mean.
For the ages in years: The S.D is 20 percent of the mean.
Interpreting, there is more dispersion relative to the mean in
the distribution of test scores because 25 percent is greater
than 20 percent.
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• It is denoted by Z and the formula is

value  mean
Z
s tan dard deviation
xx
For samples, the formula is Z 
s
X 
For populations, the formula is Z 


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Mathematical properties of variance and standard
deviation
1. If to (from) each and every observation a constant
is added (subtracted) the standard deviation as
well as the variance remain the same.
i.e. If the standard deviation of x1 , x2 ,..., xn is s,
then the standard deviation of x1  k , x2  k ,..., xn  k
will also be s.
2. If each and every value is multiplied by a non-zero
constant ’k’ the standard deviation (s) is multiplied
by |k| and the variance is multiplied by k2.

3. The standard deviation of a  kx1 , a  kx2 ,..., a  kxn

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Example 4.24 Compute 1 , 2 , 3 and 4 for the following continuous distribution.

Class limits -1__ 1 2__ 4 5__ 7 8__ 10

fi 3 4 3 5

Solution First, let us calculate the mean.

0 x3  3x 4  6 x3  9 x5 75
x  5
3 435 15

Each class will be represented by its class mark  X i 

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 ~
x  x  xˆ

Symmetrical Distributi on

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 ~
x̂ x x
Positive skewness
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 ~
x x x̂
Negative skewness

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 Leptokurtic
f

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