Mathematics.Statistics - ChatArea.com

Mathematics Forum

Author	Message / Information
tk2005 Quote \| Reply \|	Maximum Standard Deviation? posted on: 11/28/2005 3:36:35 PM What is the maximum standard deviation for a 3-pt scale (1,2, and 3), regardless of how many times those numbers are repeated?
mathgeek Quote \| Reply \|	Maximum Standard Deviation? replied on: 3/29/2007 11:55:26 AM Well, with my first pass at this problem I came up with an expression for the population standard deviation for a list of numbers where 1 appears "a" times and 2 appears "b" times and 3 appears "c" times: stdev = (ab + 4ac + bc)^0.5 / (a + b + c) OBSERVATIONS: (1) The sum (a + b + c) is constant (the total number of items in our list). (2) The biggest contributor to our numerator is the number of 1's and 3's in our list. I am not sure what to do with this right now, I am still thinking on it and will get back to you with more ideas later. Laars.
mathgeek Quote \| Reply \|	Maximum Standard Deviation? replied on: 3/29/2007 12:41:38 PM I think the answer for the max stdev is 1. It occurs when there are no 2's and an equal split of 1's and 3's. Not sure how to prove it yet.
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