Variance as mean of squares – UGC NET Question

Variance is defined as the square of the standard deviation. Since standard deviation is the square root of variance, squaring the standard deviation gives the variance (a measure of dispersion).

Option A:
Variance is correct because it equals (standard deviation)² and measures how spread out data are around the mean using squared deviations.

Option B:
Mean is a measure of central tendency (average), not the square of standard deviation, so it does not match the definition.

Option C:
Range is max − min, another dispersion measure, but it is not equal to (standard deviation)².

Option D:
Median is the middle value of ordered data and is unrelated to squaring the standard deviation.