Step 1: Standard Deviation and Mean Deviation.
The standard deviation is always greater than or equal to the mean deviation. This is because the sum of the absolute deviations (mean deviation) is less than or equal to the square root of the sum of squared deviations (standard deviation).
Step 2: The Units of Variance.
Variance is calculated as the average of squared deviations, so its units are the square of the units of observation, unlike the standard deviation, which is in the same units as the data.
Step 3: Scale Effect on Standard Deviation.
The value of the standard deviation changes with scale. If we scale the data by a factor, the standard deviation is also scaled by the same factor.
Thus, the correct answer is option (b).