In: Statistics and Probability
Suppose that the middle 68% of monthly food expenditures for a family of four fall between 533.21 and 685.13. Give an approximate estimate of the standard deviation of the expenditures. Assume the expenditures have a normal distribution
Using empirical rule (68 - 95 - 99.7)
Approximately 68% data falls in 1 standard deviation of the mean.
That is 68% data falls between -
and
+
Comparing this interval with (533.21 , 685.13) we get,
-
= 533.21 and
+
=
685.13
Solve these two equations for by
subtracting.
_________________
Approximate estimate of standard deviation = 75.96