[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”spreadsheet-function” _builder_version=”4.16″ border_width_left=”4px” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]=STDEV(value1, [value2, \u2026])[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n
- \n
- value1<\/b> \u2013 is the first value or reference to the range of the dataset.\n
- value2, \u2026<\/b> \u2013 [ OPTIONAL ] \u2013 are additional values or references to ranges that contain values you want to include in the dataset.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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What is standard deviation<\/h3>\n
I\u2019ll take a moment to talk a bit more about standard deviation, in case you\u2019re not familiar with it. As I mentioned previously, standard deviation measures the dispersion of a dataset. In other words, it indicates how far the data points are from the overall average of the dataset.<\/p>\n
To illustrate this, consider a simple example where you have three numbers: 19, 20, and 21. The average of these three numbers is 20, and they\u2019re all very close to the average. Now consider another dataset: 10, 20, and 30. Again, the average of these is 20, but there\u2019s much more variation. In these two examples, the first dataset has a lower standard deviation, and the standard deviation of the second group is higher.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re interested in learning more about standard deviation, here\u2019s a link<\/a> to more information.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n
Usage: STDEV formula in Google Sheets<\/h3>\n
Now that you understand the concept of standard deviation, I\u2019ll show how to use the STDEV formula on a sample dataset to further reinforce your understanding of how to calculate it in Google Sheets.<\/p>\n
Please take a look at the following snapshot.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/static.sheetgo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1.-STDEV-examples.png” alt=”stdev formula 1″ title_text=”1. STDEV examples” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” width=”640px” max_width=”640px” height=”440px” max_height=”440px” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n
The first thing you\u2019ll notice is that in all four instances above, you get the same result. This makes sense, since I\u2019m using the same data each time. The point here is to demonstrate the different ways you can input data into the STDEV function.<\/p>\n
The first example takes direct numeric values and returns the calculated standard deviation. The second demonstrates that the STDEV formula is also capable of using references to cells that store numbers. In the third example, instead of sending multiple values or references, I\u2019ve entered a single range that contains all the values from A2 through A11. This is the easiest method, since you only have to input a single range. In the final example, I typed a combination of direct numeric values and range references.<\/p>\n
As you can see, regardless of the approach you take with the formula, the output will be the same.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n
Notes<\/h3>\n
- \n
- STDEV will return an error if any of the parameter values are strings.<\/li>\n
- This formula calculates the standard deviation for a sample. If you need to do it for a population instead, you can use the STDEVP formula.<\/li>\n
- The formula may return a #DIV\/0! error if there are not at least two value arguments.<\/li>\n
- If you\u2019re familiar with statistics, you\u2019ll know that standard deviation is just the square root of the variance<\/a>, another important metric in statistics. You can calculate this using the VAR<\/a> formula in Google Sheets. The image below illustrates this concept.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/static.sheetgo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/2.-STDEV-variance-example.png” alt=”stdev formula variance 2″ title_text=”2. STDEV variance example” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” width=”640px” max_width=”640px” height=”440px” max_height=”440px” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n
STDEV formula in Google Sheets<\/h3>\n
That’s it. That’s how you use the STDEV formula in Google Sheets.<\/p>\n
Take a look at our other blog posts to learn more about Google Sheets functions and features.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.22.2″ background_color=”#f9f9ff” custom_margin=”40px||40px||false|false” custom_padding=”15px|25px|15px|25px|true|true” border_width_left=”3px” border_color_left=”#808e95″ global_module=”26540″ saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note<\/strong>: This is a revised version of a previous post that has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.<\/em><\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Google Sheets is a great tool for data analysis tasks. Oftentimes, a key part of this involves statistical analysis, which can help you understand the nature of the dataset. Standard deviation is one of a variety of statistical measures that helps you quantify the degree of variation or dispersion of a set of data values. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":33453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"We carry out most of our data analysis tasks on spreadsheets applications. And we will need to arrive at some key statistical metrics to understand the nature of the dataset. Standard deviation is one such metric that helps us quantify the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of data values. The STDEV<\/a> formula in Google Sheets is ported for this purpose.\n
Syntax<\/h3>\nSTDEV(value1, [value2, ...])<\/strong>\n
- \n \t
- value1<\/strong> - is the first value or reference to the range of the dataset.<\/li>\n \t
- value2, ...<\/strong> - [ OPTIONAL ] - are the additional values or references to ranges that contain values we need to include in the dataset.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Usage: STDEV formula in Google Sheets<\/h3>\nNow that we know what the STDEV formula is for, let us try and apply this formula on a sample dataset to further reinforce our understanding. Please take a look at the following snapshot.\n\n
![\"STDEV](\"https:\/\/static.sheetgo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/STDEV-formula-Illustration-Frame-1.png\")
\n\nBy any chance, if you are interested in reading through some literature as to how we usually calculate the standard deviation, here's the link<\/a> to it.\n\nThe first example consumes direct numeric values and returns the calculated variance. The second demonstrates that the STDEV formula is also capable of using references to cells that store numbers. In the third example, instead of sending multiple values or references, we have passed a single composite range. This composite cell range consists of all the values from A2 through A11. And, in the final example, we not only passed direct numeric values but also a couple range references. Therefore, regardless of the approach that we have taken with the formula, the output is same across all the examples.\nNotes<\/h4>\n
- \n \t
- It is interesting to learn that the standard deviation is nothing but the square root of the variance<\/a>, another important metric in statistics. And we can we can obtain using the VAR<\/a> formula in Google Sheets. Please see the image that illustrates this concept.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"STDEV](\"https:\/\/static.sheetgo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/STDEV-formula-Illustration-Frame-2.png\")
<\/p>\n\n- \n \t
- STDEV will return an error in case any of the parameter values are strings.<\/li>\n \t
- This formula calculates the standard deviation for a sample. If we need to do it for a population instead, we can use the STDEVP formula.<\/li>\n \t
- The formula may return a #DIV\/0! error, if there are not at least two value arguments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[39,28],"class_list":["post-8774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-google-sheets-formulas","tag-connections-t","tag-spreadsheets"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- value2, ...<\/strong> - [ OPTIONAL ] - are the additional values or references to ranges that contain values we need to include in the dataset.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- value1<\/strong> - is the first value or reference to the range of the dataset.<\/li>\n \t
- value2, \u2026<\/b> \u2013 [ OPTIONAL ] \u2013 are additional values or references to ranges that contain values you want to include in the dataset.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n