Mean and standard deviation

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Question from Jamie, a student:

Let n be any odd whole number.
a) Which has the greater mean: the odd whole numbers from 1 to n, or the even whole numbers from 2 to n-1?
b) Which has the greater standard deviation: the odd whole numbers from 1 to n, or the even whole numbers from 2 to n-1?

Hi Jamie,

Try some examples say n = 5, 6, 7 and 8. What you will see is that the result depends on whether n is even or odd.

Penny

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