Standard deviation of a population

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Standard deviation of a population
Description
Exercise Name: Standard deviation of a population
Math Missions: High school statistics and probability Math Mission
Types of Problems: 1

The Standard deviation of a population exercise appears under the High school statistics and probability Math Mission. This exercise practices calculation of standard deviation only in a population situation.

Types of Problems

There is one type of problem in this exercise:

1. Find the mean and standard deviation of the population: This problem describes the measurements of a population. The student is asked to calculate the mean and standard deviation of the population.

Strategies

This exercise is medium to get accuracy badges because the calculation is intensive and the rounding restriction is subtle. Speed badges are medium but can be made easier with the calculator.

1. On a calculator the population standard deviation is given by ${\sigma_x}$.
2. The TI83/84 calculators can find these standard deviations but make sure user is careful to use the correct one (not the sample standard deviation, ${S_x}$).
3. The problem asks answers to be rounded to the nearest tenth, so even if user has an exact decimal but it is to the hundredths, they need to round it to the tenths spot.
4. The default cursor appears in the calculator app, so to start answering user needs to click on the answer box.

Real-life Applications

1. Sport teams use standard deviation. For example, a team that may be consistently good may have low standard deviation, but a team that scores a lot standard deviation might be high.
2. Another scenario may be money. In money, standard deviation may mean the risk of the prices. If the investment loses money, it's going to have a low standard deviation.
3. Another scenario one might be considering the whether temperatures in two different areas. It helps people figure out which one has the highest deviation based on it variations.