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title: "Statistics of a sample"
canonical: "https://modelassist.epixanalytics.com/space/EA/26574967/Statistics%20of%20a%20sample"
format: markdown
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Statistical descriptions can be calculated for a set of data values. We will use the height of a group of n randomly selected people as our data set:


| **Parameter** | **Description** | **Definition** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Percentiles x<sub>P</sub> | P% of observations are shorter than x<sub>P</sub> |  |
| **Location** |  |  |
| Mode | The most common height (assumes height scale is incremental, not continuous) |  |
| Median x<sub>50</sub> | 50% of observations are shorter than x<sub>50</sub> |  |
| Mean *m* | The average height of the observations | > Macro (inline-media-image)

> Macro (mathinline) |
| **Spread** |  |  |
| Standard deviation *s* | The square root of the variance of the data set | > Macro (inline-media-image)

> Macro (mathinline) |
| Variance V | The average squared deviation of height from the mean of the observations | > Macro (inline-media-image)

> Macro (mathinline) |
| Mean absolute deviation | The average difference in height between each observation and the mean of all observations | > Macro (inline-media-image)

> Macro (mathinline) |




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