Illustrate the meaning of the term dispersion with examples.
Dispersion is a measure of the variation of the items. According to Prof. C.R. Conn, Dispersion is a measure of the extent to which the individual item vary. The measures of dispersion are required to measures the amount of variation of values about the central values.
Example : Suppose the monthly incomes in rupees of five house holds are as Rs. 4500, 6000, 5500, 3750 and 4700.
The arithmatic mean of income is Rs. 4700. The amount of variation in income is shown by deviations from the central values. In this case the deviation from the arithmean are Rs. 390, 1110, 610, 1140 and 190.