If the variance of 3+x, 6, 4, x and 7-x is 4 and the mean is 5, find the standard deviation

To find the standard deviation of the given set of numbers, we need to find the variance first, using the formula: Variance = (sum of squares of deviations from the mean) / (number of observations) Let's start by finding the mean of the given set of numbers: Mean = (3 + x + 6 + 4 + 7 - x) / 5 = 20 / 5 = 4 Next, we can substitute this mean into the formula for variance, which gives us: 4 = [(3 - 4)^2 + (6 - 4)^2 + (4 - 4)^2 + (x - 4)^2 + (7 - x - 4)^2] / 5 Simplifying this equation, we get: 20 = (3 - 4)^2 + (6 - 4)^2 + (4 - 4)^2 + (x - 4)^2 + (7 - x - 4)^2 20 = 1 + 4 + 0 + (x - 4)^2 + (3 - x)^2 Simplifying further, we get: 15 = 2(x^2 - 8x + 13) Expanding and simplifying this equation, we get: 2x^2 - 16x + 26 = 15 2x^2 - 16x + 11 = 0 We can solve this quadratic equation using the quadratic formula: x = [16 ± sqrt(16^2 - 4(2)(11))] / (2(2)) x = [16 ± sqrt(176)] / 4 x = [16 ± 4sqrt(11)] / 4 x = 4 ± sqrt(11) Now that we have found the possible values of x, we can calculate the standard deviation using the formula: Standard deviation = sqrt(variance) We already know the variance is 4, so: Standard deviation = sqrt(4) = 2 Therefore, the answer is (B) 2.