dispersion
Pronunciation: [dɪsˈpɜrʃən]
Context: “science”
(noun) the process or result of spreading something out over a wide area. Imagine when you drop a drop of food coloring in water, it spreads out and the color moves around. That's dispersion.
Example
The dispersion of light through the prism created a beautiful rainbow.
Example
There was no dispersion of the ink in the water; it stayed in a clump.
Example
What happens to the dispersion of particles when they are stirred?
Context: “mathematics”
(noun) a way to describe how much a group of numbers varies. It helps us see if the numbers are all quite similar or spread out from each other. Think of it as measuring how far the numbers are from the average.
Example
The dispersion of test scores showed that most students performed similarly.
Example
In this case, there was little to no dispersion among the scores; everyone did very differently.
Example
How can we calculate the dispersion of these numbers?
Context: “sociology”
(noun) the way people or groups spread out in different places. For example, when a group of people moves to different cities, that is dispersion of the population.
Example
The dispersion of families from the city to the suburbs has increased over the last decade.
Example
There has been no dispersion of the community; everyone still lives in the same area.
Example
What factors might affect the dispersion of people in this region?