Does a higher standard deviation always mean higher variability?

[ManBearPig]

Look at this question...if standard deviation always means higher variability, then the age of the pilots would be more variable. but i feel like the # of newspapers for sale is more variable because the average is lower in relation to the standard deviation.


The average number of newspapers for sale in an airport newsstand is 12, and the standard deviation is 4. The average age of the pilots is 37 years, with a standard deviation of 6 years. Which data set is more variable?


thank ye

 

[Howard]

http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/A16252.html

 

[Zugzwang152]

look at what question?

 

[MovingTarget]

OMGMATH!

 

[Vincent]

The mean has nothing to do with variability. So ages are more variable.

 

[TecHNooB]

I don't think the mean has an effect on the standard deviation. The mean is just the 'center' of your distribution and the std dev is relative to the center. Where the center is does not effect what the standard deviation is. Let me know if this is all crazy talk

Btw, stdev measures how wide your distribution is. So if you ignore where the centers (mean) of both distributions are and super impose their centers on top of eachh other, the higher standard deviation has a wider bell shape.

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: Kazaam
Look at this question...if standard deviation always means higher variability, then the age of the pilots would be more variable. but i feel like the # of newspapers for sale is more variable because the average is lower in relation to the standard deviation.


The average number of newspapers for sale in an airport newsstand is 12, and the standard deviation is 4. The average age of the pilots is 37 years, with a standard deviation of 6 years. Which data set is more variable?


thank ye

Std Dev = Square Root of Variance, so yes ... higher std dev means higher variability.

 

[ManBearPig]

Originally posted by: Vincent
The mean has nothing to do with variability. So ages are more variable.

ah, thanks. was the mean included just to confuse or something? odd.