Of course the SD can be larger than the mean. If this were not so we would not have the standard normal.......
If the variable can take negative values, the mean may be close to zero, or even negative - while the SD has to be positive. If the variable can not take negative values, it is still possible for the SD to be larger than the mean, but the distribution will then be not symmetric. Alan Edward Dreyer wrote: > > A colleague of mine - not a subscriber to this helpful list - asked me if > it is possible for the standard deviation > to be larger than the mean. If so, under what conditions? > > At first blush I do not think so --------- but then I believe I have seen > some research results in which standard deviation was larger than the mean. > > Any help will be greatly appreciated.. > cheers....ECD > > ___________________________ > > Edward C. Dreyer > Political Science > The University of Tulsa > ________________________ > > ================================================================= > Instructions for joining and leaving this list and remarks about > the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES are available at > http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ > ================================================================= -- Alan McLean ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics Monash University, Caulfield Campus, Melbourne Tel: +61 03 9903 2102 Fax: +61 03 9903 2007 ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list and remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES are available at http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ =================================================================
