Data on the amounts of federal on-budget funds for research programs at universities and related institutions for selected years appear in the table below. What is the standard deviation of the federal on-budget funds for research programs for this period? Round your answer to three decimal places.
A)10.125
B)8.000
C)7.990
D)11.571
E)7.474

Question

Data on the amounts of federal on-budget funds for research programs at universities and related institutions for selected years appear in the table below. What is the standard deviation of the federal on-budget funds for research programs for this period? Round your answer to three decimal places. ​ 
A)10.125 
B)8.000 
C)7.990 
D)11.571 
E)7.474

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To find the standard deviation, we need to use the formula: 
$\sqrt{\dfrac{\sum(x_i - \bar{x})^2}{n-1}}$
Using a calculator, we find that the sum of the squared deviations is 604.7641. Dividing by n-1 (which is 6 in this case) gives us 100.794. Taking the square root of this gives us the standard deviation of approximately 7.990. The closest answer choice is C.

Data on the Amounts of Federal On-Budget Funds for Research