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Standard Deviation

Standard deviation is a measure of how dispersed data points are around the mean. A low standard deviation means data is clustered near the mean, while a high standard deviation indicates data is more spread out. The standard deviation is calculated by subtracting each data point from the mean, squaring the differences, summing them, and taking the square root. This example calculates the standard deviation of a class's heights to be 9.3 inches, meaning 68% of heights were within 9.3 inches of the average.

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408 views3 pages

Standard Deviation

Standard deviation is a measure of how dispersed data points are around the mean. A low standard deviation means data is clustered near the mean, while a high standard deviation indicates data is more spread out. The standard deviation is calculated by subtracting each data point from the mean, squaring the differences, summing them, and taking the square root. This example calculates the standard deviation of a class's heights to be 9.3 inches, meaning 68% of heights were within 9.3 inches of the average.

Uploaded by

She Lagundino
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Standard Deviation

A standard deviation (or σ) is a measure of how dispersed the data is in relation to the
mean. Low standard deviation means data are clustered around the mean, and high
standard deviation indicates data are more spread out. A standard deviation close to
zero indicates that data points are close to the mean, whereas a high or low standard
deviation indicates data points are respectively above or below the mean. In Image 7,
the curve on top is more spread out and therefore has a higher standard deviation, while
the curve below is more clustered around the mean and therefore has a lower standard
deviation.

[2]

[Image 7: High and low standard deviation curves. Source: University of North Carolina,
2012.]

To calculate the standard deviation, use the following formula:


In this formula, σ is the standard deviation, x1 is the data point we are solving for in the
set, µ is the mean, and N is the total number of data points. Let’s go back to the class
example, but this time look at their height. To calculate the standard deviation of the
class’s heights, first calculate the mean from each individual height. In this class there
are nine students with an average height of 75 inches. Now the standard deviation
equation looks like this:

The first step is to subtract the mean from each data point. Then square the absolute
value before adding them all together. Now divide by 9 (the total number of data points)
and finally take the square root to reach the standard deviation of the data:

Subtract mean
Height in Square Sum of Variance Standard
Mean from each data Result
inches each value Squares x deviation
µ point x
x x2 ∑x Ν σ=√x
x-µ
56 75 56 – 75 -19 361 784 87.1 9.3
65 65 – 75 -10 100
74 74 – 75 -1 1
75 75 – 75 0 0
76 76 – 75 1 1
77 77 – 75 2 4
80 80 – 75 5 25
81 81 – 75 6 36
91 91 – 75 16 256
[Figure 2: The step-by-step process of finding the standard deviation of sample data]

This data shows that 68% of heights were 75 inches plus or minus 9.3 inches (1
standard deviation away from the mean), 95% of heights were 75’’ plus or minus 18.6’’
(2 standard deviations away from the mean), and 99.7% of heights were 75’’ plus or
minus 27.9’’ (3 standard deviations away from the mean).
[2] The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill “Density Curves and Normal Distributions” 9/12/06. Web.

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