Question

From the prices of shares X and Y below, find out which is more stable in value:

X	35	54	52	53	56	58	52	50	51	49
Y	108	107	105	105	106	107	104	103	104	101

Answer 1

The prices of the shares X are

35, 54, 52, 53, 56, 58, 52, 50, 51, 49

Here, the number of observations, N = 10

The following table is obtained corresponding to shares X.

xi
35	–16	256
54	3	9
52	1	1
53	2	4
56	5	25
58	7	49
52	1	1
50	–1	1
51	0	0
49	–2	4
		350

The prices of share Y are

108, 107, 105, 105, 106, 107, 104, 103, 104, 101

The following table is obtained corresponding to shares Y.

yi
108	3	9
107	2	4
105	0	0
105	0	0
106	1	1
107	2	4
104	–1	1
103	–2	4
104	–1	1
101	–4	16
		40

C.V. of prices of shares X is greater than the C.V. of prices of shares Y.

Thus, the prices of shares Y are more stable than the prices of shares X.