Why is standard deviation not a measure of central tendency ?

1 Answer
Ramchandran A.
Nov 2, 2015

A measure of central tendency is one value that can represent the total population and acts like the central gravity towards which all the other values move.

Explanation:

Standard deviation - as the name suggests is a measure of the deviation. Deviation means change or distance. But change is always followed by the word 'from'. Hence standard deviation is a measure of change or the distance from a measure of central tendency - which is normally the mean. Hence, standard deviation is different from a measure of central tendency.

Related questions
See all questions in Measures of Variability
Impact of this question
15283 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License