Which data set has the smallest standard deviation?

A. 1,6,19,20,85,29,0

B. 22,22,23,23,22,22,23

C. 6, 7, 6, 7, 1004, 980, 350

D. 99, 199, 299, 55, 44,33, 22

B. 22,22,23,23,22,22,23

Explanation:

The standard deviation is a measure of dispersion or variability of a data set. In order to determine the data set that has the smallest standard deviation, we shall investigate on the ranges of the data sets given. The range of a data set is simply the difference between the maximum and minimum values in a data set. A data set that has a smaller range also has a smaller standard deviation.

From the alternatives given, the data set given by alternative B has the smallest range and consequently the smallest standard deviation.

The maximum value is 23 while the minimum is 22. The range is 1.