STDEV.P
Calculate the standard deviation when the data covers every member of the group, not a sample of it.
Syntax
STDEV.P(number1, [number2], ...)| Argument | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
number1 | Required | A range or value. |
number2 | Optional | Further ranges or values. |
Examples
Every example below was executed against VisiGrid engine 0.54.0 — not
transcribed from another vendor's documentation. Reproduce any of them with vgrid calc.
| Formula | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
=STDEV.P(A2:A9) | 2 | Divides by n. The mean is 5 and the average squared distance from it is 4. |
=STDEV.S(A2:A9) | 2.14 | Treated as a sample instead, the estimate is larger. |
=STDEV.P(5) | 0 | A single value has no spread, and that is a valid answer for a population. |
When the data is everything
STDEV.P is for complete data: every employee’s salary, every day’s sales in
a finished year, every item in a production run. The spread is then a fact
about the group, not an estimate, and there is nothing to correct for.
If the numbers are a sample from something larger, use
STDEV.S, which divides by n − 1 to avoid
understating the spread.
Old name
STDEVP, without the dot, is the pre-2010 name for the
same function.
Excel compatibility
Matches Excel, including skipping text and logical values in ranges.