Statistics to find variance

[future_vet]

Hello!

It's been a long time since I took a stats class, and today we got this question in a biology class, without reviewing the concepts. I was wondering if you could tell me how to find the answer:

Class A had an average of 15 with a standard deviation of 5. Class B had an average of 16 with a standard deviation of 6. Which class had less variation in their data?

I would think it's class B, but cannot be sure...

Thanks!

 

[future_vet]

Actually, do we square the SD to find the variance?
So in this case, the group with a SD of 5 would have less variance?

 

[royhaas]

You do square the SD to find the variance. However, variation can mean either variance, SD, or other measures of dispersion. There is also a measure of variation called the coefficient of variation, and it is defined as the SD divided by the mean. In this case, all those measures point to data set A as having less variation.