To find the mean, sum all the data points and divide by the number of data points:

\(\text{Mean} = \frac{5 + (-2) + 12 + 7 + (-3) + 2 + (-6) + 4 + 0 + 8}{10} = \frac{27}{10} = 2.7\)

\(To find the variance, use the formula:\)

\(\text{Variance} = \frac{(5^2 + (-2)^2 + 12^2 + 7^2 + (-3)^2 + 2^2 + (-6)^2 + 4^2 + 0^2 + 8^2)}{10} - (\text{Mean})^2\)

\(= \frac{35.1}{10} - 2.7^2 = 3.51 - 7.29 = 27.8\)