Answer :
Final answer:
The question asks which group's variance is represented by the given population variance. The correct answer is the entire population of 550 students, not just the sample of 173 students. Therefore correct option is C.
Explanation:
The question pertains to the concept of population variance in statistics. Population variance, denoted as σ2, is a measure of the spread between numbers in a data set and it quantifies how much the numbers differ from the average value of the set.
When we refer to population variance, we are considering the variance of the entire population, which in this case is the 550 students. Therefore, even though a sample of 173 students is taken, the population variance still pertains to all 550 students. Hence, the correct answer to the question is C. 550.
