Range       

The range is a measure of the spread of a data set. The range of a set of numerical data is the difference between the largest data value and the smallest data value. For example:

• The data set 5, 11, 12 has range 12 – 5 = 7
• The data set 22, 46, 50 has range 50 – 22 = 28.

The larger the range, the greater the spread of the data values.

Example 11 

A student obtained the following marks out of 50 in seven tests.

43

35

41

29

33

39

42

Calculate the range.

Solution

\begin{align}\text{Range}\ &=\ \text{largest data value – smallest data value}\\\\ &=43\ –29\\\\ &=14\end{align}