Author: Oscar Cronquist Article last updated on December 07, 2020

The STDEV.P function returns standard deviation based on the entire population.

The standard deviation is how widely numbers are distributed around the average value.

Formula in cell D3:

=STDEV.P(B3:B12)

Excel Function Syntax

STDEV.P(number1, [number2], ...)

Arguments

number1 Required. The first number argument that represents a population.
[number2] Optional. Up to 253 additional number arguments.

Comments

The STDEV.P function ignores logical values and text values.

For large sample sizes, STDEV.S and STDEV.P return approximately equal values.

How to use the STDEV.P function

What is Standard Deviation?

what is standard deviation

Standard deviation tells you how far from the average values are spread out. Both charts above have numbers and an average plotted, they share the same average however, the numbers are not the same.

Chart A above shows that the values are more spread out than the values in chart B. Chart A has a standard deviation of 23.45256334, standard deviation for chart B is 5.207075606. Standard deviation is used in statistics.

How is the output from the STDEV.P function calculated?

The STDEV.P function is entered in cell D3, here is how the function calculates the output:

subtotal tool standard deviationP1

x Ì… is the average.
n is how many values.

Step 1 - Calculate the average

137+139+141+105+139+124+126+146+105+101 = 1263

1263/10 = 126.3

Step 2 - Subtract the average and square the result for all values

(137-126.3)^2+(139-126.3)^2+(141-126.3)^2+(105-126.3)^2+(139-126.3)^2+(124-126.3)^2+(126-126.3)^2+(146-126.3)^2+(105-126.3)^2+(101-126.3)

becomes

(10.7)^2+(12.7)^2+(14.7)^2+(-21.3)^2+(12.7)^2+(-2.3)^2+(-0.299999999999997)^2+(19.7)^2+(-21.3)^2+(-25.3)

becomes

114.49+161.29+216.09+453.69+161.29+5.29+0.0899999999999982+388.09+453.69+640.09

and returns

2594.1

Step 3 - Divide with the total count

2594.1/10 equals 259.41

Step 4 - Square root the result

259.41^(1/2) equals 16.1062099824881

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