American Board of Surgery Qualifying Exam (ABS QE) Practice Test

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Prepare for the American Board of Surgery Qualifying Exam with detailed quizzes. Study with flashcards and multiple-choice questions to master the ABS QE topics. Get all the hints and explanations you need to succeed on your first attempt!

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In the context of statistics, what does variance measure?

The average of a dataset
The extent of deviation from the mean
The mode of a dataset
The frequency of elements in a dataset

The correct answer is: The extent of deviation from the mean

Variance is a statistical measurement that quantifies the extent of deviation of each number in a dataset from the mean (average) of that dataset. It provides insight into how spread out the values are; if the variance is low, the data points tend to be close to the mean, indicating less variability. Conversely, a high variance suggests that the data points are widely spread out from the mean, indicating greater variability within the dataset. In calculating variance, each data point's difference from the mean is squared to eliminate negative values and then averaged, which further emphasizes larger deviations. This makes variance an important measure for understanding the distribution of data and playing a critical role in various statistical analyses, including hypothesis testing and inferential statistics. Thus, the focus on measuring deviation from the mean captures the essence of how much variation exists in the dataset, which is why this option is the correct choice.