The
STDEV() function returns the standard
deviation of it's arguments.
- The syntax for the function
is STDEV (number 1, number 2,...number
n).
The
arguments "number 1,
number 2, ..number n" can
be numerical values, references to a
range of cells or a named range of which
you want to find the standard deviation.
There can be up to 30 arguments entered
into the STDEV function. The
standard deviation is the deviation or,
difference of the "standard" value
from the arithmetic mean (68% of
the values in a population for
a normal standardized bell curve). A low
value for the standard deviation means
that the values mostly cluster around the
average value deviating from it by only
a small amount. A high value represents
values that are spread along a greater
range deviating from the average by a large
amount.
[chart]
Standard deviation can also be an indicator
of the stability of a measurement. for
example. Low stdv represents a population
of value that does not change wildly and
so indicated a relatively stable set of
values.
A population with a distribution of inconsistent
values will have a high standard deviation
marking a volatile data set that is not
described well by the average value.
Standard deviation helps make comparisons
between sets of data that may have similar
averages. The standard deviation can distinguish
between sets of data bases on the consistency
of the values in the data groups.
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