Standard error

In statistics, the standard error is the standard deviation of the sample distribution.
The sample mean of a data is generally varied from the actual population mean.
It is represented as SE.
It is used to measure the amount of accuracy by which the given sample represents
its population.

Standard Error Meaning

The standard error is one of the mathematical tools used in statistics to estimate the
variability.

It is abbreviated as SE.

The accuracy of a sample that describes a population is identified through

the SE formula. The sample mean which deviates from the given population
and that deviation is given as;

The standard error of a statistic or an estimate of a parameter is the standard

deviation of its sampling distribution. We can define it as an estimate of that standard
deviation.

Where S is the standard deviation and n is the number of observations.

The standard error is an essential indicator of how precise an estimate of the

sample statisticÕs population parameter is.
The bigger the value of standard error, the more the spread and likelihood that
any sample means are not close to the populationÕs mean. A small standard error is
thus a good attribute.

How to calculate Standard Error

Step 1: Note the number of measurements (n) and determine the sample mean (μ). It is

the average of all the measurements.

Step 2: Determine how much each measurement varies from the mean.

Step 3: Square all the deviations determined in step 2 and add altogether: Σ(x i – μ)²

Step 4: Divide the sum from step 3 by one less than the total number of measurements
(n-1).

Step 5: Take the square root of the obtained number, which is the standard deviation
(σ).

Step 6: Finally, divide the standard deviation obtained by the square root of the number
of measurements (n) to get the standard error of your estimate.
Go through the example given below to understand the method of calculating standard
error.
Example: