What statistic is the difference between the maximum and minimum values in a dataset?

What statistic is the difference between the maximum and minimum values in a dataset?

• A. Range
• B. Semi-interquartile range
• C. Standard deviation
• D. Variance

Answer: (A)

The range measures how spread out the data is from the lowest to the highest value. It’s found by subtracting the smallest value from the largest value, giving the full span of the dataset. This focuses on the overall extent, unlike standard deviation or variance, which describe average deviation from the center, or the interquartile range, which describes the spread of the middle portion of the data. Because it uses only the extreme values, the range can be greatly affected by outliers.

The range measures how spread out the data is from the lowest to the highest value. It’s found by subtracting the smallest value from the largest value, giving the full span of the dataset. This focuses on the overall extent, unlike standard deviation or variance, which describe average deviation from the center, or the interquartile range, which describes the spread of the middle portion of the data. Because it uses only the extreme values, the range can be greatly affected by outliers.