When you have the average production of three machines, it is easy to calculate the average or mean production. You just add ...

But as pointed out by Tom Loveless, these are quite small differences when expressed in standard deviation units. For that reason, I focus here on interpreting the standard deviation metric.

Were that to occur, the standard-deviation calculation would be unfair, because it would penalize fund managers for excelling at their jobs. If a fund gains 7% when the stock market rises by 5% ...

— -- Q: Why is standard deviation used by some investors to measure risk? A: Measuring risk can be a pretty straight-forward exercise. When it comes to figuring the odds of an accident while ...