University of Diyala

Chemical eng. Department

The dispersion

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

What Is Dispersion?
Dispersion refers to the ‘distribution’ of objects over a large
region. The degree to which numerical data are dispersed or
squished around an average value is referred to as dispersion in
statistics. It is, in a nutshell, the dispersion of data. A vast amount
of data will always be widely dispersed or firmly packed. Data
that is widely dispersed – 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, With tiny data
grouped densely – 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4….

Understanding Dispersion

The term “dispersion” refers to how dispersed a set of data is. The
measure of dispersion is always a non-negative real number that
starts at zero when all the data is the same and rises as the data
gets more varied. The homogeneity or heterogeneity of the
scattered data is defined by dispersion measures. It also refers to
how data differs from one another.

Measures of Dispersion
As the name suggests, the measure of dispersion shows the
scatterings of the data. It tells the variation of the data from one
another and gives a clear idea about the distribution of the data.
The measure of dispersion shows the homogeneity or the
heterogeneity of the distribution of the observations.

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

Browse more Topics under Measures Of Central Tendency
And Dispersion

• Arithmetic Mean
• Median and Mode
• Partition Values or Fractiles
• Harmonic Mean and Geometric Mean
• Range and Mean Deviation
• Quartiles, Quartile Deviation and Coefficient of Quartile
Deviation
• Standard deviation and Coefficient of Variation
Suppose you have four datasets of the same size and the mean is
also the same, say, m. In all the cases the sum of the observations
will be the same. Here, the measure of central tendency is not
giving a clear and complete idea about the distribution for the four
given sets.

Can we get an idea about the distribution if we get to know about

the dispersion of the observations from one another within and
between the datasets? The main idea about the measure of
dispersion is to get to know how the data are spread. It shows how
much the data vary from their average value.

Characteristics of Measures of Dispersion

• A measure of dispersion should be rigidly defined

• It must be easy to calculate and understand

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

 • Not affected much by the fluctuations of observations
• Based on all observations

Classification of Measures of Dispersion

The measure of dispersion is categorized as:

(i) An absolute measure of dispersion:

• The measures express the scattering of observation in

terms of distances i.e., range, quartile deviation.
• The measure expresses the variations in terms of the
average of deviations of observations like mean deviation
and standard deviation.
(ii) A relative measure of dispersion:

We use a relative measure of dispersion for comparing

distributions of two or more data set and for unit free comparison.
They are the coefficient of range, the coefficient of mean
deviation, the coefficient of quartile deviation, the coefficient of
variation, and the coefficient of standard deviation.

Dispersion Measurement Types

The dispersion is constantly dependent on the observations and

types of central tendency metrics used. The following are
examples of dispersion measures:

1. Range
2. Deviation from the median
3. Deviation from the mean

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

 4. Deviation from the mean

Range
Range refers to the difference between each series’ minimum and
maximum values. The range offers us a good indication of how
dispersed the data is, but we need other measures of variability to
discover the dispersion of data from central tendency
measurements. A range is the most common and easily
understandable measure of dispersion. It is the difference between
two extreme observations of the data set. If X max and X min are the
two extreme observations then

Range = X max – X min

Merits of Range

• It is the simplest of the measure of dispersion

• Easy to calculate
• Easy to understand
• Independent of change of origin

Demerits of Range

• It is based on two extreme observations. Hence, get

affected by fluctuations
• A range is not a reliable measure of dispersion
• Dependent on change of scale

Quartile Deviation

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

The quartiles divide a data set into quarters. The first quartile, (Q1)
is the middle number between the smallest number and the median
of the data. The second quartile, (Q2) is the median of the data set.
The third quartile, (Q3) is the middle number between the median
and the largest number.

Quartile deviation or semi-inter-quartile deviation is

Q = ½ × (Q3 – Q1)

Merits of Quartile Deviation

• All the drawbacks of Range are overcome by quartile

deviation
• It uses half of the data
• Independent of change of origin
• The best measure of dispersion for open-end classification

Demerits of Quartile Deviation

• It ignores 50% of the data

• Dependent on change of scale
• Not a reliable measure of dispersion

Mean Deviation
Mean deviation is the arithmetic mean of the absolute deviations
of the observations from a measure of central tendency. If x1, x2,
… , xn are the set of observation, then the mean deviation of x
about the average A (mean, median, or mode) is

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

 Mean deviation from average A = 1⁄n [∑i|xi – A|]

For a grouped frequency, it is calculated as:

Mean deviation from average A = 1⁄N [∑i fi |xi – A|], N = ∑fi

Here, xi and fi are respectively the mid value and the frequency of
the ith class interval.

Merits of Mean Deviation

• Based on all observations

• It provides a minimum value when the deviations are
taken from the median
• Independent of change of origin

Demerits of Mean Deviation

• Not easily understandable

• Its calculation is not easy and time-consuming
• Dependent on the change of scale
• Ignorance of negative sign creates artificiality and
becomes useless for further mathematical treatment

Standard Deviation
A standard deviation is the positive square root of the arithmetic
mean of the squares of the deviations of the given values from
their arithmetic mean. It is denoted by a Greek letter sigma, σ. It is
also referred to as root mean square deviation. The standard
deviation is given as

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

 σ = [(Σi (yi – ȳ) ⁄ n] ½ = [(Σ i yi 2 ⁄ n) – ȳ 2] ½

For a grouped frequency distribution, it is

σ = [(Σi fi (yi – ȳ) ⁄ N] ½ = [(Σi fi yi 2 ⁄ n) – ȳ 2] ½

The square of the standard deviation is the variance. It is also a

measure of dispersion.

σ 2 = [(Σi (yi – ȳ ) / n] ½ = [(Σi yi 2 ⁄ n) – ȳ 2]

For a grouped frequency distribution, it is

σ 2 = [(Σi fi (yi – ȳ ) ⁄ N] ½ = [(Σ i fi xi 2 ⁄ n) – ȳ 2].

If instead of a mean, we choose any other arbitrary number, say A,

the standard deviation becomes the root mean deviation.

Variance of the Combined Series

If σ1, σ2 are two standard deviations of two series of sizes n1 and
n2 with means ȳ1 and ȳ2. The variance of the two series of sizes n1 +
n2 is:

σ 2 = (1/ n1 + n2) ÷ [n1 (σ1 2 + d1 2) + n2 (σ2 2 + d2 2)]

where, d1 = ȳ 1 − ȳ , d2 = ȳ 2 − ȳ , and ȳ = (n1 ȳ 1 + n2 ȳ 2) ÷ ( n1 + n2).

Merits of Standard Deviation

• Squaring the deviations overcomes the drawback of

ignoring signs in mean deviations

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

 • Suitable for further mathematical treatment
• Least affected by the fluctuation of the observations
• The standard deviation is zero if all the observations are
constant
• Independent of change of origin

Demerits of Standard Deviation

• Not easy to calculate

• Difficult to understand for a layman
• Dependent on the change of scale

Coefficient of Dispersion
Whenever we want to compare the variability of the two series
which differ widely in their averages. Also, when the unit of
measurement is different. We need to calculate the coefficients of
dispersion along with the measure of dispersion. The coefficients
of dispersion (C.D.) based on different measures of dispersion are

• Based on Range = (X max – X min) ⁄ (X max + X min).

• C.D. based on quartile deviation = (Q3 – Q1) ⁄ (Q3 + Q1).
• Based on mean deviation = Mean deviation/average from
which it is calculated.
• For Standard deviation = S.D. ⁄ Mean

Coefficient of Variation

100 times the coefficient of dispersion based on standard deviation

is the coefficient of variation (C.V.).

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

 C.V. = 100 × (S.D. / Mean) = (σ/ȳ ) × 100.

Solved Example on Measures of Dispersion

Problem: Below is the table showing the values of the results for
two companies A, and B.

1. Which of the company has a larger wage bill?

2. Calculate the coefficients of variations for both of the
companies.
3. Calculate the average daily wage and the variance of the
distribution of wages of all the employees in the firms A
and B taken together.
Solution:

For Company A

No. of employees = n1 = 900, and average daily wages = ȳ 1 = Rs.

250

We know, average daily wage = Total wages ⁄ Total number of

employees

or, Total wages = Total employees × average daily wage = 900 ×

250 = Rs. 225000 … (i)

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

For Company B

No. of employees = n2 = 1000, and average daily wages = ȳ2 = Rs.

220

So, Total wages = Total employees × average daily wage = 1000

× 220 = Rs. 220000 … (ii)

Comparing (i), and (ii), we see that Company A has a larger wage
bill.

For Company A

Variance of distribution of wages = σ12 = 100

C.V. of distribution of wages = 100 x standard deviation of

distribution of wages/ average daily wages

Or, C.V. A = 100 × √100⁄250 = 100 × 10⁄250 = 4 … (i)

For Company B

Variance of distribution of wages = σ22 = 144

C.V. B = 100 × √144⁄220 = 100 × 12⁄220 = 5.45 … (ii)

Comparing (i), and (ii), we see that Company B has greater

variability.

For Company A and B, taken together

The average daily wages for both the companies taken together

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh

ȳ = (n1 ȳ 1 + n2 ȳ 2)⁄( n1 + n2) = (900 × 250 + 1000 × 220) ÷ (900 +
1000) = 445000⁄1900 = Rs. 234.21

The combined variance, σ2 = (1/ n1 + n2) ÷ [n1 (σ1 2 + d1 2) +

n2 (σ2 2 + d2 2)]

Here, d1 = ȳ1 − ȳ = 250 – 234.21 = 15.79, d2 = ȳ2 − ȳ = 220 –

234.21 = – 14.21.

Hence, σ2 = [900 × (100 + 15.792) + 1000 × (144 + – 14.212)] ⁄

(900 + 1000)

or, σ2 = (314391.69 + 345924.10) ⁄ 1900 = 347.53.

Written by : Mohammed kh. Kh