Measure of dispersion of the data of a population, equal to \(\dfrac{\textrm{σ}}{\overline{\textrm{x}}}\) where σ represents the standard deviation and \(\overline{\textrm{x}}\) represents the mean of the data series.
Example
| Distribution of people based on their mass | |
| Mass (in kg) | Frequency |
| [55, 65[ | 10 |
| [65, 75[ | 12 |
| [75, 85[ | 8 |
| [85, 95[ | 4 |
| [95, 105[ | 2 |
| Total | 36 |
In this distribution of grouped data, we have:
- The mean: \(\overline{\textrm{x}}\) = 73.33
- The standard deviation: σ ≈ 5.83
- The coefficient of variation: \(\dfrac{\textrm{σ}}{\overline{\textrm{x}}}\) ≈ 0.079