ASSIGNMENT FOR BUSINESS-RELATED MAJORS

An investment analyst wishes to compare the performance of

three money market funds. To do so, he selects 30 observations,
10 corresponding to each fund. An index of performance is
developed with a reference base of 100. The following results are
obtained:

Fund 1 71 60 83 70 90 62 73 74 65 88

Fund 2 123 140 111 129 127 136 130 119 121 149

Fund 3 133 118 141 132 127 138 133 129 122 144

You are asked to comment on the average performance of the

three funds, as well as their stability. For that purpose, you should
calculate measures of central tendency (mean, median), as well as
measures of dispersion (variance, standard deviation, range), and
afterwards write your conclusions about the results found,
including comments regarding the selection of appropriate
measures for the description of the above data, based on the
advantages and disadvantages of each such measure.
Fund 1 60 62 65 70 71 73 74 83 88 90

First of all I will find the mean

x = ( x) / n
x = 763 / 10 = 73,6
x = 73,6

Secondly I will find the median 60 62 65 70 71 73 74 83 88 90

Median = 71 +73 / 2
Median = 144/2
Median = 72

Third I will find the variance 60 62 65 70 71 73 74 83 88 90

s 2 = (x x )2 /n
s2= (60 -73,6)2 + (62 73,6 )2 + (65 73,6 )2 + (70 73,6 )2 + (71 73,6)2

+ (73 73,6)2 + (74-73,6)2 + (83 73,6 )2 + (88 73,6)2 + (90 73,6)2

=

s2= (184,96) + (134,56) + (73,96) + (12,96) +( 6,67) + (0,36) +

+( 0,16) +( 88,36) + (207,36) + (268,96) =

s = 2 978,31 / 10

s2= 97,831

Afterwards i will find

the standard deviation

s = [ (x x )2 /n]
SD =
97,831
And finally I will find the rage
Rage = Max - Min
Rage = 90 - 60 = 30
fund 2 111 119 121 123 127 129 130 136 140 149

first of all I will find the mean

x = ( x) / n
x = 1285 / 10 = 128,5
x= 128,5

Secondly I will find the median 111 119 121 123 127 129 130 136 140 149
Median = 127 +129 / 2
Median = 256 / 2
Median = 128

Third I will find the variance 111 119 121 123 127 129 130 136 140 149

s 2 = (x x )2 /n
s2= (111 128,5)2 +(119 128,5)2 + (121 128,5)2 +(123 128,5)2 +(127128,5)2 +

(129 128,5)2 +(130128,5)2 +(136 128,5)2 +(140 128,5 )2 + (149 128,5)2 =

s2= (306,25) + (90,25) + (56,25) + (30,25) + (2,25) + (0,25)

(2,25) + (56,25) + (132,25) + (420,25) =

s2= 1096,5 / 10

s2= 109,65

Afterwards i will find

the standard deviation
s = [ (x x )2 /n]
SD = 109,65
And finaly I will find the rage
Rage = Max - Min
Rage = 149 - 111 = 38
Fund 3 118 122 127 129 132 132 133 138 141 144

First of all I will find the mean

x = ( x) / n
x = 1316 / 10 = 131,6
x= 131,6

Secondly I will find the median 118 122 127 129 132 132 133 138 141 144
Median = 132 +132 / 2
Median = 264/2
Median = 132

Third I will find the variance 118 122 127 129 132 132 133 138 141 144

s 2 = (x x )2 /n
s2= (118-131,6)2+(122-131,6)2+(127-131,6)2+(129-131,6)2+(132-131,6)2+

(132-131,6)2+ (133-131,6)2+(138-131,6)2+(141-131,6)2+(144-131,6)2 =
s2= (184,96) + (92,16) + (21,16) + (6,76) + (0,16) + (0,16) +

( 1,96) + (40,96) + (88,36) + (153,76) =

s2= 590,4 / 10

s2= 59,04

Afterwards i will find

the standard deviation
s = [ (x x )2 /n]
SD = 59,04
And finaly I will find the rage
Rage = Max - Min
Rage = 144 - 118 = 26
 Mean performance

73.6

131.6
Fund 1
Fund 2
Fund 3

128.5

The analyst can figure out which fund have the best performance comparing the mean
from the three money found. At this graph it is not clearly enough to understand which
market fund have got the best performance to invest money in the future because fund 2
and fund 3 have very little difference between them. The analyst need to be sure exactly
which fund is better because he must be accurate about the performance results.

To make the things clear he need to find the variance of each fund to see if each fund is
stabile. Variance is a measure of risk, the variance statistic can help determine the risk an
investor might take on when purchasing a specific security. The larger the variance, the
more distributed the values are. The smaller the variance, the more homogeneous the
values .
 variance

59.04

97.831
Fund 1
Fund 2
Fund 3

109.65

Here the analyst compares the 3 funds about their stability and he figures out that the fund
2 have got a larger variance than the first and the third . Here he can figure out that the
fund 2 is more stable with the fund 1 .Now he have got a clear image which fund have the
minimum risk to invest .

But to be more sure about the performance of each fund he need to check the average
more carefully , and the only way is to find the standard deviation of each fund. The
importance of the standard deviation is big because measures the dispersion of the values of
the variable around the mean. Thanks to this we can discern if the variable values are far
from the average. The smaller the value of the standard deviation, so the average is
representative statistical measure for the distribution of the variable.
 standard deviation

1.005

Fund 1
Fund 2
2.771 Fund 3
1.074

Here the analyst can se if the average who just found in the beginning are representing each
performance correctly . He figures out that the fund 3 have got the largest standard
deviation .

Now the analyst is sure that the best performance have got the second fund because it is
more stable than the other fund 1 and 3 . And this kind of exercise show us that we need to
be careful about the measurement we are using . if the analyst only calculate the average of
each fund he would lead to the wrong conclusion of which fund have got the best
performance.