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StandardDeviationFormulas

StandardDeviationFormulas
Deviationjustmeanshowfarfromthenormal

Standard Deviation
TheStandardDeviationisameasureofhowspreadoutnumbersare.
Youmightliketoread thissimplerpageonStandardDeviation first.
Buthereweexplaintheformulas.
ThesymbolforStandardDeviationis(theGreeklettersigma).

ThisistheformulaforStandardDeviation:

Saywhat?Pleaseexplain!
OK.Letusexplainitstepbystep.
Saywehaveabunchofnumberslike9,2,5,4,12,7,8,11.
Tocalculatethestandarddeviationofthosenumbers:

1.WorkouttheMean(thesimpleaverageofthenumbers)
2.Thenforeachnumber:subtracttheMeanandsquaretheresult
3.Thenworkoutthemeanofthosesquareddifferences.
4.Takethesquarerootofthatandwearedone!
Theformulaactuallysaysallofthat,andIwillshowyouhow.

The Formula Explained

First,letushavesomeexamplevaluestoworkon:

Example:Samhas20RoseBushes.

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Example:Samhas20RoseBushes.
Thenumberofflowersoneachbushis

9,2,5,4,12,7,8,11,9,3,7,4,12,5,4,10,9,6,9,4
WorkouttheStandardDeviation.

Step1.Workoutthemean
Intheformulaabove(thegreekletter"mu")isthe mean ofallourvalues...

Example:9,2,5,4,12,7,8,11,9,3,7,4,12,5,4,10,9,6,9,4
Themeanis:

9+2+5+4+12+7+8+11+9+3+7+4+12+5+4+10+9+6+9+4
20

140
20

=7

So:

=7

Step2.Thenforeachnumber:subtracttheMeanandsquaretheresult
Thisisthepartoftheformulathatsays:

Sowhatisxi?Theyaretheindividualxvalues9,2,5,4,12,7,etc...
Inotherwordsx1=9,x2=2,x3=5,etc.
Soitsays"foreachvalue,subtractthemeanandsquaretheresult",likethis

Example(continued):
(97)2=(2)2=4
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(27)2=(5)2=25
(57)2=(2)2=4
(47)2=(3)2=9
(127)2=(5)2=25
(77)2=(0)2=0
(87)2=(1)2=1
...etc...
Andwegettheseresults:

4,25,4,9,25,0,1,16,4,16,0,9,25,4,9,9,4,1,4,9

Step3.Thenworkoutthemeanofthosesquareddifferences.
Toworkoutthemean,addupallthevaluesthendividebyhowmany.
Firstaddupallthevaluesfromthepreviousstep.
Buthowdowesay"addthemallup"inmathematics?Weuse"Sigma":

Thehandy SigmaNotation saystosumupasmanytermsaswewant:

SigmaNotation
Wewanttoaddupallthevaluesfrom1toN,whereN=20inourcasebecausethereare20values:

Example(continued):

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Whichmeans:Sumallvaluesfrom(x17)2to(xN7)2

Wealreadycalculated(x17)2=4etc.inthepreviousstep,sojustsumthemup:

=4+25+4+9+25+0+1+16+4+16+0+9+25+4+9+9+4+1+4+9=178

Butthatisn'tthemeanyet,weneedtodividebyhowmany,whichissimplydonebymultiplying
by"1/N":

Example(continued):

Meanofsquareddifferences=(1/20)178=8.9
(Note:thisvalueiscalledthe"Variance")

Step4.Takethesquarerootofthat:
Example(concluded):

=(8.9)=2.983...

DONE!

Sample Standard Deviation

Butwait,thereismore...
...sometimesourdataisonlyasampleofthewholepopulation.
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...sometimesourdataisonlyasampleofthewholepopulation.

Example:Samhas20rosebushes,butonlycountedthe
flowerson6ofthem!
The"population"isall20rosebushes,
andthe"sample"isthe6bushesthatSamcountedtheflowersof.
LetussaySam'sflowercountsare:

9,2,5,4,12,7

WecanstillestimatetheStandardDeviation.
Butwhenweusethesampleasanestimateofthewholepopulation,theStandardDeviation
formulachangestothis:

TheformulaforSampleStandardDeviation:

Theimportantchangeis"N1"insteadof"N"(whichiscalled"Bessel'scorrection").

Thesymbolsalsochangetoreflectthatweareworkingonasampleinsteadofthe
wholepopulation:
Themeanisnowx(forsamplemean)insteadof(thepopulationmean),
Andtheansweriss(forSampleStandardDeviation)insteadof.
Butthatdoesnotaffectthecalculations.OnlyN1insteadofNchangesthe
calculations.

OK,letusnowcalculatetheSampleStandardDeviation:

Step1.Workoutthemean
Example2:Usingsampledvalues9,2,5,4,12,7
Themeanis(9+2+5+4+12+7)/6=39/6=6.5
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So:

x=6.5

Step2.Thenforeachnumber:subtracttheMeanandsquaretheresult
Example2(continued):
(96.5)2=(2.5)2=6.25
(26.5)2=(4.5)2=20.25
(56.5)2=(1.5)2=2.25
(46.5)2=(2.5)2=6.25
(126.5)2=(5.5)2=30.25
(76.5)2=(0.5)2=0.25

Step3.Thenworkoutthemeanofthosesquareddifferences.
Toworkoutthemean,addupallthevaluesthendividebyhowmany.
Buthangon...wearecalculatingtheSampleStandardDeviation,soinsteadofdividingbyhow
many(N),wewilldividebyN1

Example2(continued):
Sum=6.25+20.25+2.25+6.25+30.25+0.25=65.5
DividebyN1:(1/5)65.5=13.1
(Thisvalueiscalledthe"SampleVariance")

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Step4.Takethesquarerootofthat:
Example2(concluded):

s=(13.1)=3.619...

DONE!

Comparing
Whenweusedthewholepopulationwegot:Mean=7,StandardDeviation=2.983...
Whenweusedthesamplewegot:SampleMean=6.5,SampleStandardDeviation=3.619...
OurSampleMeanwaswrongby7%,andourSampleStandardDeviationwaswrongby21%.

Why Take a Sample?

Mostlybecauseitiseasierandcheaper.

Imagineyouwanttoknowwhatthewholecountrythinks...youcan'taskmillionsof
people,soinsteadyouaskmaybe1,000people.

Thereisanicequote(possiblybySamuelJohnson):
"Youdon'thavetoeatthewholeoxtoknowthatthemeatistough."
Thisistheessentialideaofsampling.Tofindoutinformationaboutthepopulation(suchasmean
andstandarddeviation),wedonotneedtolookatallmembersofthepopulationweonlyneeda
sample.
Butwhenwetakeasample,welosesomeaccuracy.

Summary
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ThePopulationStandardDeviation:

TheSampleStandardDeviation:

Question1Question2Question3Question4

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