What is the first step in the calculation of variance?

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Prepare for the University of Central Florida GEB4522 Data Driven Decision Making Exam 2. Utilize interactive quizzes, flashcards, and detailed explanations to excel in your test. Enhance your decision-making skills and ace the exam!

The first step in the calculation of variance is to subtract the mean from each score. This process is crucial because it establishes how far each individual data point deviates from the average value of the dataset. By calculating these deviations, you can assess the dispersion of the data.

Once you have these deviations, you can then proceed to square them and subsequently average those squared values to find the variance. If you don't start with the deviation from the mean, you cannot accurately measure how spread out the data points are about that mean. This foundational step lays the groundwork for the calculations that follow in the variance formula, ultimately influencing the interpretation of the data's variability.

Determining the mode, which refers to the most frequently occurring value in a dataset, is not related to variance and does not contribute to understanding the spread of the data.