Find the standard deviation

Question

Find the standard deviation of 2,4,6,8,10, 12 , …,2n where n is a natural number

Answer 1

Hi Maria,

This is an interesting problem, I may not get this right so be sure to ask around. It seems to me that a standard deviation would not be a meaningful concept here. The equation for the standard deviation of a random variable is σ = √(∑(x-μ)²/n). From this equation we can see that the sum will continue to increase with each additional x-value and thus the standard deviation will increase as well. If x-values are added on infinitely, the standard deviation will increase to infinity as well. Thus an answer of σ = ∞ or σ is undefined seem like the only logical responses.