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Can standard deviation be negative?

Published in Statistics 1 min read

No, standard deviation cannot be negative.

Standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values. It's calculated as the square root of the variance. Since the variance is calculated by squaring the differences from the mean, it can never be negative. Therefore, the square root of the variance (the standard deviation) can also never be negative. The standard deviation will always be either positive or zero.

  • Positive Standard Deviation: Indicates that the data points are spread out around the mean. A larger standard deviation suggests greater variability.

  • Zero Standard Deviation: Indicates that all the data points are identical and equal to the mean. There is no variability.

In summary, the standard deviation is always a non-negative value, reflecting the spread of data around the mean.

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