Given that the mean of the scores 15, 21, 17, 26, 18 and 29 is 21, calculate the standard deviation of the scores
Answer Details
To calculate the standard deviation of the scores, we first need to find the variance, which is the average of the squared deviations from the mean.
1. Find the mean of the scores:
Mean = (15 + 21 + 17 + 26 + 18 + 29)/6 = 126/6 = 21
2. Calculate the deviations from the mean for each score:
15 - 21 = -6
21 - 21 = 0
17 - 21 = -4
26 - 21 = 5
18 - 21 = -3
29 - 21 = 8
3. Square each deviation:
(-6)^2 = 36
0^2 = 0
(-4)^2 = 16
5^2 = 25
(-3)^2 = 9
8^2 = 64
4. Find the average of the squared deviations:
(36 + 0 + 16 + 25 + 9 + 64)/6 = 150/6 = 25
5. Take the square root of the variance to get the standard deviation:
Standard deviation = sqrt(25) = 5
Therefore, the standard deviation of the scores is 5.
The answer is 5.