Standard Deviation

Standard deviation is widely used and acceptable measure of dispersion in the

Standard deviation may be defined as the square root of the arithmetic mean of the
squares of the deviations of the observations from their arithmetic mean. So, it also
called root mean square deviation.


1 n

n i 1
x  x
i
2

Case-1: Individual series- When frequency of each observation is one.

Let X1, X2, X3, ----------,Xn be asset of ‘n’ observations then its standard deviation
is given by

Standard deviation =  
1 n

n i 1
x  x
i
2
or
1 n 2

n i 1 xi
x
2

1 n
Where , x  
n i 1 xi

Case-2: Discrete Frequency Distribution

When the observations and their respective frequencies are given

Let X1, X2, X3, ----------,Xn be asset of ‘n’ observations with their respective
frequencies f1, f2, f3,---------,fn then the standard deviation is given by

Standard deviation =  
1 n

N i 1
f xi  x
i  2
or
1 n

N i 1
2
f ix  x
i
2

n
1
Where, x 
N
x f
i 1
i i

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Case-3: Continuous Frequency Distribution

When class intervals and their respective frequencies are given.

In this case we find the mid values of all the class intervals and then apply case-2.

 In most of the cases the arithmetic mean of the given distribution happens to
be a fractional value and then the process of taking deviations and squaring
them becomes quite tedious and time consuming, to overcome this
difficulty, short cut method and step deviation method is used which
involves deviations from assumed mean or arbitrary value.

Short cut method for calculating standard deviation in case of individual

1 n 2

2
 
n i 1 d i d

1 n
Where, d   d i
n i 1
d  x A

Short cut method for calculating standard deviation in case of discrete

1 n

2 2
 f id  d
N i 1 i

n
1
Where, d 
N
 f id
i 1
i

d  x A

Step Deviation method for calculating standard deviation in case of

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 1 n

2 2
 h f id  d
N i 1 i

n
1
Where, d 
N
 f id
i 1
i

x A
d
h

Example –

Calculate the value of standard deviation by the direct method and short cut
method from the following set of observations:

10 11 17 25 7 13 21 12 14

Solution – Here, n = 9
2
x x i

10 100
11 121
17 289
25 625
7 49
13 169
21 441
12 144
14 196
9 9

 xi  130 x  2134
2
i
i 1 i 1

1 n 1 9 1
x 
n i 1 x i
 
9 i 1 x i
  130  14.44
9

1 n 2 1 9 2
 2134  14.44  5.34
1
 
2 2
 xi
 x  xi
 x 
2

n i 1 9 i 1 9

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Short-cut Method
2
x d=x-A d
10 3 9
11 4 16
17 10 100
25 18 324
7=A 0 0
13 6 36
21 14 196
12 5 25
14 7 49
9 9

d  67 d  755
2
i i
i 1 i 1

1 n 1 9 1
d 
n i 1 d i
 
9 i 1 d i
  67  7.44
9

1 n 2 1 9 2
 755  7.44  5.34
1
 
2 2
 d i
 d  d i
 d 
2

n i 1 9 i 1 9

Example –

Calculate the value of standard deviation from the following discrete frequency
distribution by the direct method and short cut method:

x 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
f 6 12 15 28 20 14 5

Solution-

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 2 2
x f Xf x f x i i

4 6 24 16 96
5 12 60 25 300
6 15 90 36 540
7 28 196 49 1372
8 20 160 64 1280
9 14 126 91 1134
10 5 50 100 500
7 7

x f  706 f x  5222
2
N=100 i i i i
i 1 i 1

1 n
1 7 1
x
N
x f
i 1
i i
 
100 i 1 xi
f i

100
 706  7.06

n
1
 f ix  x
2 2

N i 1
i

1 7

2 2
 f ix  x
100 i 1 i

 5222  7.06  
1
 2

100
 52.22  49.84
  2.38
  1.54

2
x d=x-A f f d i i d
2
i f d i i

4 -3 6 -18 9 54
5 -2 12 -24 4 48
6 -1 15 -15 1 15
7=A 0 28 0 0 0
8 1 0 20 1 20
9 2 14 28 4 56
10 3 5 15 9 45
7 7

f d i 6 f d 238
2
N=100 i i i
i 1 i 1

Page 5 of 6
 1 n
1 7 1
d
N
 f id
i 1
i
 
100 i 1
f id i

100
 6  0.06

n
1
 f id  d
2 2

N i 1
i

1 7

2 2
 f id  d
100 i 1 i

 238  0.06 
1
 2

100
 2.38  0.0036
  2.3764
  1.54

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