What is the range of a data set?

• A. The maximum and minimum values.
• B. The average value.
• C. The standard deviation.
• D. The median value.

Answer: (A)

The range shows how spread out the data are by looking at the smallest and largest values in the set. Describing the range with the maximum and minimum values makes sense because those two numbers mark the ends of the data’s spread. If you want the actual width of that spread, you subtract the minimum from the maximum. For example, with values from 3 to 15, the range spans 3 to 15 and has width 12. Other measures describe data differently: the average (mean) gives a typical value, the standard deviation tells how far values are from that average, and the median is the middle value when the data are ordered.