What mathematical measure represents the difference between the highest and lowest values in a dataset?

What mathematical measure represents the difference between the highest and lowest values in a dataset?

• A. Median
• B. Mean
• C. Mode
• D. Range

Answer: (D)

The difference between the highest and lowest values in a dataset is defined as the range. The range gives insight into the spread of the data by showing how much variation exists between the extreme values. To calculate the range, you simply take the maximum value and subtract the minimum value from it. This provides a single value that summarizes the overall dispersion of the dataset. A larger range indicates a wider spread of values, while a smaller range suggests that the values are closer together. In contrast, the median represents the middle value in a sorted dataset, the mean is the average of all values, and the mode is the value that occurs most frequently in the dataset. These measures provide different information about the dataset, but none of them capture the concept of difference between the highest and lowest values like the range does. Thus, range is the correct choice for this question.

The difference between the highest and lowest values in a dataset is defined as the range. The range gives insight into the spread of the data by showing how much variation exists between the extreme values.

To calculate the range, you simply take the maximum value and subtract the minimum value from it. This provides a single value that summarizes the overall dispersion of the dataset. A larger range indicates a wider spread of values, while a smaller range suggests that the values are closer together.

In contrast, the median represents the middle value in a sorted dataset, the mean is the average of all values, and the mode is the value that occurs most frequently in the dataset. These measures provide different information about the dataset, but none of them capture the concept of difference between the highest and lowest values like the range does. Thus, range is the correct choice for this question.