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A business publication recently released a study on the total number of years of

ID: 3066414 • Letter: A

Question

A business publication recently released a study on the total number of years of experience in industry among CEOs. The mean is provided in the article, but not the standard deviation. Is the standard deviation most likely to be 6 months, 6 years, or 16 years? Explain which standard deviation is correct and why. Choose the correct answer below.

A. The standard deviation is 6 months because both 6 years and 16 years would result in far too large an interval of reasonable years.

B. The standard deviation is 16 years because both 6 months and 6 years would result in far too small an interval of reasonable years.

C. The standard deviation is 16 years because some CEOs work for over 50 years, and the study will have had to account for these executives.

D. The standard deviation is 6 years because 6 months would result in far too small an interval of reasonable years and 16 years would result in far too large an interval of reasonable years.

Explanation / Answer

Answer is option C. The standard deviation is 16 years because some CEOs work for over 50 years and some for less than 2 years, and the study will have had to account for these executives. If we take the other two options, i.e., 6 months and 6 years, it will not cover the CEO who had more deviation from the mean experience value, may be more or less.