Calculate Standard Deviation

As an experimenter, it is important to be able to calculate standard deviation, because it is

a very important parameter that defines the way data is centered about the mean.
The standard deviation is the square root of variance. Thus the way we calculate standard deviation is very similar
to the way we calculate variance.
In fact, to calculate standard deviation, we first need to calculate the variance, and then take its square root.
Standard Deviation Formula
The standard deviation formula is similar to the variance formula. It is given by:
= standard deviation
xi = each value of dataset
x (with a bar over it) = the arithmetic mean of the data (This symbol will be indicated as mean from
now)
N = the total number of data points
(xi - mean)2 = The sum of (xi - mean)2 for all datapoints
For simplicity, we will rewrite the formula:
= ! (x-mean)2 " N #
This to minimize the chance of confusion in the eamples below.
Standard Deviation Calculation Example (for opulation!
!s an eample to calculate standard deviation, consider a sample of I" scores given by #$, %&', %($, %)' and %'&.
1. "rite the formula.
* + ,- ./0mean1( 2 3 4
2. #ow many numbers are there$
There are five numbers.
* + ,- ./0mean1( 2 5 4
3. "hat is the mean$
The mean of this data is /#$6%&'6%($6%)'6%'&125 + %(&.
* + ,- ./0%(&1( 2 5 4
4. "hat are the respective deviations from the mean$
The deviation from the mean is given by #$0%(& + 0(', %&'0%(& + 0%$, %($0%(& + $, %)'0%(& + %', %'&0
%(& + (&.
* + ,- //0('1(6/0%$1(6/$1(6/%'1(6/(&1(1 2 5 4
* + ,- //#$0%(&1(6/%&'0%(&1(6/%($0%(&1(6/%)'0%(&1(6/%'&0%(&1(1 2 5 4
5. S%uare and sum the deviations&
The sum of their squares is given by /0('1( 6 /0%$1( 6 /$1( 6 /%'1( 6 /(&1( + %'$'.
* + ,- /57$ 6 (5$ 6 )$ 6 %#$ 6 '&&1 2 5 4
* + ,- /%'$'1 2 5 4
* + ,- //0('1/0('16/0%$1/0%$16/$1/$16/%'1/%'16/(&1/(&11 2 5 4
6. Divide by the number of scores /minus one if it is a sample, not a population1:
The mean of this value is given by %'$'25 + (#(.8. The number in between the brackets is
the variance of the data.
* + ,-(#(.84
7. S%uare root the total&
To calculate standard deviation, we take the square root ,/(#(.81 + %7.%%.
* + %7.%%
Whilst it is not necessary to learn the formula for calculating the standard deviation, there may be times when you wish to
include it in a report or dissertation.
The standard deviation of an entire population is known as (sigma) and is calculated using:
Where x represents each value in the population, is the mean value of the population, is the summation (or total),
and N is the number of values in the population.
The standard deviation of a sample is known as S and is calculated using:
Where x represents each value in the population, x is the mean value of the sample, is the summation (or total), and n-
1 is the number of values in the sample minus 1.