Deviating from

the Average
Chapter 5
Variance
is the expectation of the squared deviation of a
random variable from its mean. Informally, it
measures how far a set of (random) numbers are
spread out from their average value.
 Group of Heights and Their Squared
Deviations
Height Height – Deviation Squared
Mean Deviation
50 50 – 48 2 4
47 47 – 48 -1 1
52 52 – 48 4 16
46 46 – 48 -2 4
45 45 - 48 -3 9

Variance =

Variance = 6.8
VAR.P and VARPA
Population Variance – Steps
1. Put your data into a worksheet and select a cell to
display the result.
2. From the Statistical Functions menu, select
VAR.P to open the VAR.P Function Arguments
dialog box.
3. In the Function Arguments dialog box, enter
the appropriate values for the arguments.
4. Click OK to close dialog box and put the result
in selected cell.
Formula in the Formula Bar
=VAR.P(Score)
Sample Variance
Group of Heights and Their Squared Deviations
Height Height – Mean Deviation Squared
Deviation
50 50 – 48 2 4
47 47 – 48 -1 1
52 52 – 48 4 16
46 46 – 48 -2 4
45 45 - 48 -3 9

Sample Variance =

Sample Variance = 8.5

VAR.S and VARA
Sample Variance -- Steps
1. Put your data into a worksheet and select a cell to
display the result.
2. From the Statistical Functions menu, select
VAR.S to open the VAR.S Function Arguments
dialog box.
3. In the Function Arguments dialog box, enter
the appropriate values for the arguments.
4. Click OK to close dialog box and put the result
in selected cell.
Standard Deviation
Standard deviation is a number used to tell how
measurements for a group are spread out from
the average (mean), or expected value. A
low standard deviation means that most of the
numbers are close to the average. A
high standard deviation means that the numbers
are more spread out.
Population Standard Deviation
Group of Heights and Their Squared Deviations
Height Height – Mean Deviation Squared
Deviation
50 50 – 48 2 4
47 47 – 48 -1 1
52 52 – 48 4 16
46 46 – 48 -2 4
45 45 - 48 -3 9

Population Standard Dev.=

Population SD = 2.61
STDEV.P and STDEVPA
Population Standard Deviation -- Steps
1. Put your data into a worksheet and select a cell to
display the result.
2. From the Statistical Functions menu, select
STDEV.P to open the STDEV.P Function
Arguments dialog box.
3. In the Function Arguments dialog box, enter
the appropriate values for the arguments.
4. Click OK to close dialog box and put the result
in selected cell.
Formula in the Formula Bar
=STDEV.P(Score)
 Sample Standard Deviation
Group of Heights and Their Squared Deviations
Height Height – Mean Deviation Squared
Deviation
50 50 – 48 2 4
47 47 – 48 -1 1
52 52 – 48 4 16
46 46 – 48 -2 4
45 45 - 48 -3 9

Sample Standard Dev.=

Sample Standard Dev.= 2.92

STDEV.S and STDEVA
Sample Standard Deviation -- Steps
1. Put your data into a worksheet and select a cell to
display the result.
2. From the Statistical Functions menu, select
STDEV.S to open the STDEV.S Function
Arguments dialog box.
3. In the Function Arguments dialog box, enter
the appropriate values for the arguments.
4. Click OK to close dialog box and put the result
in selected cell.
Formula in the Formula Bar
=STDEV.S(Score)
STDEVIF and STDEVIFS
 STDEVIF and STDEVIFS
D19 displays the overall average
= AVERAGE (RT_msec)

D20 displays the average for all trials on which

circle appeared.
= AVERAGEIF(Shape,”Circle”,RT_msec)

D21 presents the average trials on which green

square appeared.
= AVERAGEIFS(RT_msec, Color, “Green”, Shape, “Square”)
 STDEVIF and STDEVIFS
H19 presents the standard deviation for those trials
displayed a circle
= STDEVIF(Shape, “Circle”, RT_msec)

K19 presents the standard deviation for those trials

displayed a green square
= STDEVIFS(RT_msec, Color, “Green”, Shape,
“Square”)
 STDEVIF and STDEVIFS
IF takes three arguments:
• A logical condition to be satisfied
• The action to take if the logical condition is
satisfied
• An optional argument that specifies the action
to take if the logical condition is not satisfied

• H2:H17 displays the corresponding value of the

cells that provided “Circle” as a data
=IF(C2=“Circle”, D2, “ “)
• “If the value in C2 is ‘Circle,’ then set the value
of this cell to the value in D2. If not, leave this
 STDEVIF and STDEVIFS
If we use AND along with IF for the cells in Column K.
Each one holds the value from the corresponding cell in
column D if two conditions are true:
• The value in corresponding cell in Column B is
“Green”
• The value in corresponding cell in Column C is
“Square”

The formula for cell K2 is

=IF (AND(B2=“Green”, C2=“Square”),D2,” “)
“If the value in B2 is ‘Green’ and the value in C2 is
‘Square,’ then set the value of this cell to the value in
D2. If not, leave this cell blank.”
Related Functions-other variation-related worksheet functions:

• DEVSQ
- calculates the sum of the squared
deviations from the mean (without
dividing by N or by N-1). For these
numbers:
• AVEDEV (Average Deviation)
- one more Excel function deals with
deviations in a way other than squaring
them.
- this is called taking the absolute value of
each deviation.
- Excel’s AVEDEV worksheet function
calculates the average absolute deviation
of a group of numbers.
Group of Heights and Their Average Deviations

Height Height – Mean |Deviation|

50 50 – 48 2
47 47 – 48 1
52 52 – 48 4
46 46 – 48 2
45 45 - 48 3

AVEDEV =
 Group of Heights and Their Average Deviations

Accounting Grade Accounting Grade – |Deviation|

Mean
96
86
89
90
82
76
79
62
Compute for the ff:
a. Mean
e. Sample variance
b. Deviation
f. Population Standard Deviation
c. Variance
g.Sample Standard Deviation
d. AVEDEV