Have You Seen the Standard Deviation?

Abstract

Background: Sarkar and Rashid (2016a) introduced a geometric way to visualize the mean based on either the empirical cumulative distribution function of raw data, or the cumulative histogram of tabular data. Objective: Here, we extend the geometric method to visualize measures of spread such as the mean deviation, the root mean squared deviation and the standard deviation of similar data. Materials and Methods: We utilized elementary high school geometric method and the graph of a quadratic transformation. Results: We obtain concrete depictions of various measures of spread. Conclusion: We anticipate such visualizations will help readers understand, distinguish and remember these concepts.