The Excel STDEVP Function
Related Function:
STDEV Function
Standard Deviation
The Standard Deviation is a statistical measure, that is used to identify the amount that a set of values differ (or deviate) from the average value.
For any set of values, the Standard Deviation is give by the square root of the variance. I.e.
where,
- x takes on each value in the set;
- x is the average (statistical mean) of the set of values;
- n is the number of values.
STDEVP & STDEV.P Functions
In Excel 2010, the STDEVP function has been replaced by the STDEV.P function, which has improved accuracy.
Although it has been replaced, the Stdevp function is still available in Excel 2010 (stored in the list of compatibility functions), to allow compatibility with earlier versions of Excel.
However, the Stdevp function may not be available in future versions of Excel, so it is advised that you use the STDEV.P function if possible.
Function Description
The Excel STDEVP function calculates the standard deviation of a supplied set of values.
The syntax of the function is:
STDEVP( number1, [number2], ... )
where the arguments, number1, [number2], etc, are one or more numeric values, arrays of values, or references to cells containing values.
Note that:
- If you are using a recent version of Excel (2007 or later), you can enter up to 255 number arguments to the Stdevp function. However, in Excel 2003, the function can only accept up to 30 number arguments.
-
The Stdevp function is used when calculating the standard deviation for an entire population. If you are calculating the standard deviation of an sample population, you need to use the Stdev function.
See the page on Standard Deviation in Excel for a comparison of the different Excel standard deviation functions.
Stdevp Function Example
A company keeps a record of its monthly sales figures, over the last three years. These are stored in cells B3-B14, D3-D14 and F3-F14 of the spreadsheet on the right above spreadsheet.
The standard deviation of the three years' sales figures is calculated in cell H3 of the spreadsheet. The formula for this, (shown in the spreadsheet formula bar), is:
=STDEVP( B3:B14, D3:D14, F3:F14 )
As shown in cell H3, the standard deviation for the 3 years of sales figures is calculated to be 2,484.05
Other Argument Types
In the example above, the arguments to the Stdevp function are input as 3 cell ranges. However, you can also input figures directly, as individual numbers or number arrays.
For example, if, during January and February 2010 the sales figures are 13,000 and 14,500, you could add these directly into the above function as follows:
Either as individual numbers:
=STDEVP( B3:B14, D3:D14, F3:F14, 13000, 14500 )
Or, as an array of numbers:
=STDEVP( B3:B14, D3:D14, F3:F14, {13000, 14500} )
This gives the updated standard deviation value of 2,435.35
For further information and examples of the Excel Stdevp function, see the Microsoft Office website.
Stdevp Function Errors
If you get an error from the Excel Stdevp function this is likely to be one of the following:
Common Errors
| #DIV/0! | - |
Occurs if none of the values that are supplied to the function are numeric. (Note that text representations of numbers, that are supplied as a part of an array, are not recognized as numeric values by the Stdevp function) |
| #VALUE! | - | Occurs if any values that are supplied directly to the Stdevp function are text values that cannot be interpreted as numbers. |