Investopedia contributors come from a range of backgrounds, and over 25 years there have been thousands of expert writers and editors who have contributed. Somer G. Anderson is CPA, doctor of ...

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and ...

For a given data set, standard deviation measures how spread out the numbers are from an average value. This measurement of average variance has a prominent place in many fields related to statistics, ...

When reviewing cash flow data for your small business, knowing the standard deviation can help you determine if the numbers are out of whack. Calculating standard deviation manually can be ...

The extent to which products meet specifications needs to be systematically monitored in a production process. Product quality will typically be defined by two quantities: deviations from stated ...

Use Excel to calculate daily returns and standard deviation to gauge stock volatility. Annualize volatility by multiplying daily standard deviation by the square root of 252. Remember, standard ...

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Standard deviation and variance are two basic mathematical concepts that have an important place in various parts of the financial sector, from accounting to economics to investing. Both measure the ...