Abbreviation for Standard Deviation
- SD
How to Pronounce Standard Deviation
To say “standard deviation” out loud, you can break it into three parts: “stan-dard de-vi-a-tion.”
What Does Standard Deviation Mean?
Standard deviation is a measure of how spread out numbers are in a set. It tells you how much the numbers in a data set differ from the average (mean) of the set.
Other Examples
- A low standard deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean of the set, while a high standard deviation indicates that the values are spread out over a wider range.ย — Wikipedia
Synonyms for Standard Deviation
Other words or phrases that mean something similar to standard deviation include:
- Variability
- Spread
- Dispersion
The History of the Word
The term “standard deviation” has been around for quite some time. It was first introduced by the mathematician Karl Pearson in the late 19th century.
When to Use the Abbreviation
You can use the abbreviation SD whenever you’re writing about or discussing standard deviation in a more casual or informal setting.
In more formal contexts, it’s often better to use the full term.
Example of the Word and Abbreviation in Context
Let’s say you have a class of students, and you want to know how much their test scores vary from the average score.
You could calculate the standard deviation (SD) to get a sense of the spread of scores.