Definition

A measure of the variability in a process or sample. It is calculated as the difference between the minimum (lowest) value and the maximum (highest) value in the data set.

Examples

 

Application

When expressed as the difference of the upper and lower specification limits (USL - LSL) for a given process characteristic, it is called the Tolerance range of the process.

See Also

X-Bar and R Chart

External Links

NIST Statistics Handbook: Measures of Scale - http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section3/eda356.htm#VARIANCE