Interactive Statistics Q- 5.17

5.17 Suppose that you are about to purchase a car and have narrowed your choices to two models-Model A and Model B. All things are about equal, such as price, options, even the average annual maintenance costs. You find an owner survey in an auto magazine that indi- cates that the standard deviation of maintenance costs is smaller for Model B. Based on this information, which of the following statements is most appropriate? (a) Model A with the larger standard deviation is preferable, because the larger value implies a smaller amount of variation in the data. (b) Model B with the smaller standard deviation is preferable, because the smaller value implies that the mean is a more reliable representation of maintenance costs. (c) They are equally acceptable, because standard deviations are not useful for comparisons of data sets