STDEVPA

Returns the population standard deviation (allowing text and logical values).

Syntax:

STDEVPA(number1, number2, ... number30)

number1 to number30 are up to 30 numbers or ranges containing numbers. Logical values and text may also be included.STDEVPA returns the standard deviation where number1 to number30 are the entire population. If you only have a sample of the population use STDEVA instead.

Logical values are regarded as 1 (TRUE) and 0 (FALSE).

Text values are always regarded as zero.

For a population of N values, the calculation formula is:

$\sqrt{\frac{1}{N}{\sum }_{i=1}^N(x_i-\overline{x}{)}^2}$

Example:

STDEVPA(3, 3, 7, 7)

returns 2.

STDEVPA(B1:B4)

where cells B1, B2, B3, B4 contain red, FALSE, 4, 4 returns 2, the population standard deviation of 0, 0, 4 and 4.

The formula to calculate the standard deviation for this entire population would be:

STDEVPA(9.9, 10.1, 10.0, 9.8, 10.2, 10.0, 10.1, 9.9, 10.0, 10.2, 10.0, 9.9)

For this data set, the STDEVPA function would return a value of approximately 0.119.

Interpretation:

The standard deviation of 0.119 ounces tells the manager that the weights of the chocolate bars are not widely dispersed. Most of the bars weigh within about 0.119 ounces of the average weight (which is 10.01 ounces). This indicates that the manufacturing process is stable and consistently producing chocolate bars very close to the 10-ounce target, which is a sign of good quality control.