standard_description: Develop a probability distribution for a random variable defined for a sample space in which probabilities are assigned empirically; find the expected value. For example, find a current data distribution on the number of TV sets per household in the United States, and calculate the expected number of sets per household. How many TV sets would you expect to find in 100 randomly selected households?
problem_activity: Activity
The goal of this activity is for students to learn how to calculate
standard deviation
(
\(\sigma\)
or
\(\sigma_x\)
) using technology. Standard deviation is a measure of variability. The work in this activity prepares students to be successful in a future Algebra 1 lesson when they have to calculate the standard deviation of data sets.
Launch
Allow students to work individually. If technology is limited, students can work in pairs. Provide access to devices that can run GeoGebra or other statistical technology. Demonstrate how to use the technology available in your classroom to compute the standard deviation of a data set. For the purposes of exploration, use the population standard deviation, often denoted
\(\sigma\)
or
\(\sigma_x\)
.
Student Facing
[IMG]
Movie A ratings on a 10 point scale:
9, 8, 10, 10, 7, 1, 8, 1, 2, 8
Movie B ratings on a 10 point scale:
9, 8, 8, 7, 9, 7, 7, 9, 7, 8
Restaurant A ratings on a 100 point scale:
88, 87, 89, 90, 87, 85, 88, 91, 86, 86, 88, 89
Restaurant B ratings on a 100 point scale:
90, 65, 89, 50, 94, 93, 95, 95, 75, 70, 88, 89
Calculate the mean and standard deviation for each data set.
Based on these statistics, which movie and restaurant would you choose? Explain your reasoning.
Student Response
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Activity Synthesis
Select students to share their solutions. Ask students how the standard deviation influenced their preferred movie and restaurants.


aligns: no