How to calculate Standard Deviation in Excel

The standard deviation is a mathematical term, and symbolizes the measurement of how spread out outlaid numbers are. We are going to make the standard deviation calculation.

Example 1 How to calculate Standard Deviation using STDEV Excel function?

Let’s start from preparing your data. For this data we will see how to calculate Standard Deviation here.

Standard Deviation data

Click on a blank column and type in =STDEV(choose all columns with numbers in it ex. A1:A11), and then press enter.

Standard Deviation formula

The Standard Deviation is calculated.

Standard Deviation calculated

Simple and quick. Luckily Excel has dedicated STDEV function for Standard Deviation calculations. There are also other Excel functions:

  • STDEV.P – standard deviation of population
  • STDEV.S – sample standard deviation
  • STDEVA – sample standard deviation which does not ignore logical values
  • STDEVPA – standard deviation of population which does not ignore logical values

Example 2 Calculate Standard Deviation using Data Analysis ToolPak Add-In

First you need to make sure your Data Analysis Toolpak Add-In is installed. Here is the lesson how to install Data Analysis Toolpak Add-In.

Go to Ribbon to the Data tab. Click the Data Analysis button.

Data Analysis ribbon button

New window appears. Choose Descriptive Statistics and click OK.

descriptive statistics

Enter the proper parameters:

  • Input Range – range of your data ($A$1:$A$11 in my example)
  • Labels in first row – there are no labels in my data table
  • Output Range – choose where you want to get your standard deviation calculated (I chose the same Sheet $F$1:$G$14)
  • Summary statistics – make sure it is checked

Standard Deviation Descriptive Statistics

And this is how to see my Statistics summary. Standard Deviation is calculated in row 7. The result is the same as in the Example 1 where we checked how to calculate Standard Deviation using STDEV Excel function.

Standard Deviation Analysis Toolpak addin calculated

Excel really helps you with statistics. Hopefully now you can see that.

Template

You can download the Template here – Download