Excel allows us to calculate the standard deviation of the population with Excel STDEVP Function. This step by step tutorial will assist all levels of Excel users in getting the standard deviation of the defined data set.
Figure 1. Calculate the standard deviation of an entire population
Syntax of the STDEVP Function
=STDEVP(number1, [number2], ...)
The parameters of the STDEVP function are:
- number1, [number2] – the numbers in the data range for calculating the standard deviation for the population
Setting up Our Data to Get the Standard Deviation of Population
Our first table consists of 2 columns: “ID” (column B) and “Sales” (column C). The second one has the average of the sales data with the result placed in the cell F4. The idea is to get the standard deviation of sales data based on population and to place the result in the cell F3.
Figure 2. Table structure for STDEVP Function
Get Standard Deviation Using STDEVP Function
We want to get the standard deviation of the data in the “Sales” column. In order to make the formula more clear, we will create a named range Sales for cell range B3:B13.
To create a named range we should follow the steps:
- Select the cell range that should be named
- Click on the name box in Excel
- Write the name for the cell range and press enter
Figure 3. Creating a named range Sales for column “Sales”
The formula for getting the standard deviation for sales data is:
=STDEVP(Sales)
The number1 in the STDEVP function is the named range Sales.
To apply the STDEVP function we need to follow these steps:
- Select cell F3 and click on it
- Insert the formula:
=STDEVP(Sales) - Press enter
Figure 4. Get the standard deviation of the population with STDEVP function
STDEVP function calculates the standard deviation of the population. This function ignores logical values and text in the data range. Formula output is $36 in the cell F3. This result means that sales values differ $36 from the mean of the sales data range.
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