Standard Deviation

Standard Deviation is a statistical measure that quantifies the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values. A low standard deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean (also called the expected value) of the set, while a high standard deviation indicates that the values are spread out over a wider range.

Definition

The standard deviation of a random variable, statistical population, data set, or probability distribution is the square root of its variance. It is algebraically simpler, though in practice less robust, than the average absolute deviation. A useful property of the standard deviation is that, unlike the variance, it is expressed in the same units as the data. Note, however, that for measurements with percentage as the unit, the standard deviation will have percentage points as the unit.

Calculation

In the case of a parametric family of distributions, the standard deviation can be expressed in terms of the parameters. For example, for a normal distribution, the standard deviation is the square root of the (non-central) second moment, or the square root of the variance.

Applications

The standard deviation is often used in statistics and the natural sciences to measure the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values.

See also

• Variance
• Mean
• Normal distribution
• Statistics

Standard Deviation Resources
Need Help Finding a Doctor? Need help finding a doctor or specialist anywhere in the world? Explore our world directory. WikiMD's DocFinder can assist you in locating millions of physicians.	Medical Knowledge Access the latest research - Most recent articles Ongoing trials.

Translate to: East Asian 中文, 日本, 한국어, South Asian हिन्दी, Urdu, বাংলা, తెలుగు, தமிழ், ಕನ್ನಡ,
Southeast Asian Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, မြန်မာဘာသာ, European español, Deutsch, français, русский, português do Brasil, Italian, polski