Mean, Variance and Standard Deviation

1. Mean is the average value of the given set of data. To get the mean, just add all the given scores
divided by the total number of students.
2. Variance
The Variance is the average of the squared differences from the Mean.
To calculate the variance, follow these steps:
 Work out the Mean (the simple average of the numbers)
 Then for each number: subtract the Mean and square the result (the squared difference).
 Then work out the average of those squared differences.
3. Standard Deviation
The Standard Deviation is a measure of how spread-out numbers are. It is the measure of how
far the data is spread from the mean. Its symbol is σ (the greek letter sigma)
The formula is easy: it is the square root of the Variance.

EXAMPLE: Let’s say we want to find the variance and standard deviation of the age among your
group of 5 close friends. The ages of you and your friends are 25, 26, 27, 30, and 32.

 First, we must find the mean age: (25 + 26 + 27 + 30 + 32) / 5 = 28.

 Then, we need to calculate the differences from the mean for each of the 5 friends.
25 – 28 = -3
26 – 28 = -2
27 – 28 = -1
30 – 28 = 2
32 – 28 = 4
 Next, to calculate the variance, we take each difference from the mean, square it, then
average the result.
Variance = ( (-3)2 + (-2)2 + (-1)2 + 22 + 42)/ 5
= (9 + 4 + 1 + 4 + 16 ) / 5 = 6.8
 So, the variance is 6.8. And the standard deviation is the square root of the variance,
which is 2.61. What this means is that, on average, you and your friends are 2.61 years
apart in age.

Difference from the mean (Difference from the mean)2

Age (x)
(x-x) (x-x)2

Sample : _________
Mean : _________
Variance : _________
Standard Deviation
:_________