Question

Let W represent the number of attempted experiments to get one experiment that is not successful.

The random variable W has a geometric distribution with mean 4 and standard deviation 3.5. Which of the following is the best interpretation of the standard deviation?Values of W typically vary from 4 by about 3.5 attempted experiments, on average.

Answer 1

The standard deviation is a measure of how much the values of a random variable tend to vary from the mean of the variable. In this case, the standard deviation of the random variable W is 3.5, which means that the values of W typically vary from the mean of 4 by about 3.5 attempted experiments. Therefore, the best interpretation of the standard deviation, in this case, is that values of W typically vary from 4 by about 3.5 attempted experiments, on average.