Standard deviation is a measure of central tendency.

Central tendency refers to the quantity that tells us

as to by how much are the data entries away from the mean of the data set. Standard deviation is
usually denoted by the Greek letter ‘sigma’ s or simply by "s.d.". The unit of standard deviation would be
the same as that of the original data given in the question. So if the data for height is in cm, then the
standard deviation would be in cm as well.

A set of data is said to be ungrouped if it is not grouped into classes. For example, if we measure the
heights of 35 students of a class and list them, that would be ungrouped data. However, if we group
them into classes such as 130 to 134 cm, 135 to 139 cm, 140 to 144 cm and so on, then the data would
be called grouped data.

How to Calculate Standard Deviation for Ungrouped Data

The steps to calculate the standard deviation for ungrouped data is as follows:

Step 1: First we arrange the data in ascending order.

Step 2: Next add up all the data values. Let us denote this sum as: S=∑ xi

Step 3: Divide this sum by the number of data entries. Thus if there are 10 numbers, then we divide the
sum of these 10 numbers by 10. This would give us the mean of the data. So,

x́=
∑ xi
n

Where, n is the number of data entries.

Step 4: Then for each of the data entries x 1 , x 2 , x 3 …… . X , we find the difference between the x i∧x́ .
n

Thus we find the values of x i∧x́ for each of the data entries.

Step 5: As suggested in the previous step, we square the difference that we found in the previous step.
Thus we find the value of ( x i∧x́ )2 for each of the data entry.

Step 6: Now we find the sum of the square of the difference and divide that sum by n. In other words,
we find the mean of the square of the differences. The number that we get now is called the variance.
Therefore, if we denote the variance by Var, then:

Var=
∑ x i−¿ x́ ¿
n

Step 7: The standard deviation can now be calculated by taking the square root of the variance. Thus,

∑ x i− x́
sd=√ var =
√ n

These are the steps to be followed for calculating the standard deviation of ungrouped data.
Examples

Example 1: Find the standard deviation of the following ungrouped data. 14, 18, 12, 15, 11, 19, 13, 22

Solution:

Step 1: Arrange in ascending order

11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 22

Step 2: Add the numbers

11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 18 + 19 + 22 = 124

Step 3: Find the mean

x¯ = 1248 = 15.5

Step 4: Find xi − x¯ for each of the data values

xi xi − x¯ xi − 15.5

11 11-15.5 -4.5

12 12-15.5 -3.5

13 13-15.5 -2.5

14 14-15.5 -1.5

15 15-15.5 -0.5

18 18-15.5 2.5

19 19-15.5 3.5

22 22-15.5 6.5

Step 5: Find the square of the differences

xi xi − x¯ xi − 15.5 ( xi − 15.5)2

11 11-15.5 -4.5 20.25

12 12-15.5 -3.5 12.25

13 13-15.5 -2.5 6.25

14 14-15.5 -1.5 2.25

15 15-15.5 -0.5 0.25

18 18-15.5 2.5 6.25

19 19-15.5 3.5 12.25

22 22-15.5 6.5 42.25

Step 6: Find mean of squares

∑ (xi − x¯)2 = 20.25 + 12.25 + 6.25 + 2.25 + 0.25 + 6.25 + 12.25 + 42.25 = 102

Var = ∑ (xi − x¯)2n = 1028 = 12.75

Step 7: Find standard deviation

sd = Var−−−−√ = 12.75−−−−√ = 3.57 ← Answer!

Example 2: Find the standard deviation of the following ungrouped data with frequency.

Weight of students (kg) Number of

students (frequency)

25 15

26 20
27 25

28 30

29 30

30 20

31 10

Solutions:

xi fi fi xi xi − x¯ (xi − x¯)2 fi (xi − x¯)2

25 15 375 -2.93 8.585 128.77

26 20 520 -1.93 3.725 74.5

27 25 675 -0.93 0.865 21.62

28 30 840 0.07 0.005 0.15

29 30 870 1.07 1.145 34.35

30 20 600 2.07 4.285 85.7

31 10 310 3.07 9.425 94.25

mean = x¯ = ∑ (fi xi)∑ fi = 4190150 = 27.93

sd = Var−−−−√ = ∑ fi (xi − x¯)2∑ fi−−−−−−−−−√ = 439.335150−−−−−√ = 2.93 ← Answer!

Standard Deviation for Ungrouped Data with Frequency

For calculating the standard deviation of ungrouped data with the frequency the steps
remain the same, just a few formulas change to incorporate the corresponding
frequencies of the data values.
Consider the data values of x1,x2,x3,…xnx1,x2,x3,…xn with corresponding
frequencies of f1,f2,f3,…,fnf1,f2,f3,…,fn. Then the steps for calculating the standard
deviation would be as follows:

Step 1: First we calculate the mean by using the formula for a mean of an ungrouped
frequency distribution data.

meanmean = x¯x¯ = ∑ (fi xi)∑ fi∑ (fi xi)∑ fi

Step 2: As before we find the difference for each xixi values. Thus we find the values
of xi − x¯xi − x¯ for each xixi value.

Step 3: As before we square the difference found in step 2. Thus we find the values
of (xi − x¯)2(xi − x¯)2 for each of the xixi values.

Step 4: Here is the different step. We multiply each of the frequency with the
corresponding difference of squares. In other words, we find the value
of fi × (xi − x¯)fi × (xi − x¯) for each of the xixi values.

Step 5: Now we find the mean of the values obtained in the previous step. This would
be our variance. Thus,

VarVar = ∑ fi (xi − x¯)2∑ fi∑ fi (xi − x¯)2∑ fi
Step 6: As was the case with ungrouped data, the standard deviation can now be
calculated by taking the square root of the variance. Standard deviation is always equal
to the square root of the variance. Therefore,

sdsd = Var−−−−√Var = ∑ fi (xi − x¯)2∑ fi−−−−−−−−−√∑ fi (xi − x¯)2∑ fi
Examples
Example 1: Find the standard deviation of the following ungrouped data. 14, 18, 12, 15,
11, 19, 13, 22

Solution:

Step 1: Arrange in ascending order

11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 22

Step 2: Add the numbers

11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 18 + 19 + 22 = 124
Step 3: Find the mean

x¯x¯ = 12481248 = 15.515.5

Step 4: Find xi − x¯xi − x¯ for each of the data values

xix xi − x¯xi − x xi − 15.5xi − 15.

i ¯ 5

11 11-15.5 -4.5

12 12-15.5 -3.5

13 13-15.5 -2.5

14 14-15.5 -1.5

15 15-15.5 -0.5

18 18-15.5 2.5

19 19-15.5 3.5

22 22-15.5 6.5

Step 5: Find the square of the differences

xix xi − x¯xi − x xi − 15.5xi − 15. (xi − 15.5)2xi − 15.5)

i ¯ 5 2

11 11-15.5 -4.5 20.25

12 12-15.5 -3.5 12.25

13 13-15.5 -2.5 6.25

14 14-15.5 -1.5 2.25

15 15-15.5 -0.5 0.25

 18 18-15.5 2.5 6.25

19 19-15.5 3.5 12.25

22 22-15.5 6.5 42.25

Step 6: Find mean of squares

∑ (xi − x¯)2∑ (xi − x¯)2 = 20.25 + 12.25 + 6.25 + 2.25 + 0.25 + 6.25 + 12.25 + 42.25

= 102

VarVar = ∑ (xi − x¯)2n∑ (xi − x¯)2n = 10281028 = 12.7512.75
Step 7: Find standard deviation

sdsd = Var−−−−√Var = 12.75−−−−√12.75 = 3.573.57 ←← Answer!
Example 2: Find the standard deviation of the following ungrouped data with frequency.

Number of
Weight of students (kg)
students (frequency)

25 15

26 20

27 25

28 30

29 30

30 20

31 10

Solutions:

xix fifi fi xifi xi xi − x¯xi − x (xi − x¯)2(xi − x¯) fi (xi − x¯)2fi (xi − x¯)

i ¯ 2 2

25 15 375 -2.93 8.585 128.77

 26 20 520 -1.93 3.725 74.5

27 25 675 -0.93 0.865 21.62

28 30 840 0.07 0.005 0.15

29 30 870 1.07 1.145 34.35

30 20 600 2.07 4.285 85.7

31 10 310 3.07 9.425 94.25

meanmean = x¯x¯ = ∑ (fi xi)∑ fi∑ (fi xi)∑ fi = 41901504190150 = 27.9327.93

sdsd = Var−−−−√Var = ∑ fi (xi − x¯)2∑ fi−−−−−−−−−√∑ fi (xi − x¯)2∑ fi = 439.

335150−−−−−√439.335150 = 2.932.93 ←← Answer!