What term is used for the amount of variation in a set of data?

The amount of variation in a set of data is best represented by the term "variance." Variance specifically measures how much the individual data points differ from the average (mean) of the data set. It provides a quantitative value that indicates the degree of spread or dispersion within the data. A higher variance means that the data points are more spread out from the mean, while a lower variance indicates that they are closer to the mean.

While other terms like standard deviation, range, and coefficient of variation are also relevant in understanding data distribution, variance is the fundamental statistical measure that reflects variability directly through the calculation of the average of the squared differences from the mean. This makes it the most suitable term for describing the variation in a data set.