Is sample standard deviation the same as standard deviation?

1 answer

Answer

1226542

2026-03-30 00:15

+ Follow

No, the standard deviation is a measure of the entire population.

The sample standard deviation is an unbiased estimator of the population. It is different in notation and is written as 's' as opposed to the greek letter sigma.

Mathematically the difference is a factor of

n/(n-1)

in the variance of the sample. As you can see the value is greater than 1 so it will increase the value you get for your sample mean.

Essentially, this covers for the fact that you are unlikely to obtain the full population variation when you sample.

ReportLike(0ShareFavorite

Copyright © 2026 eLLeNow.com All Rights Reserved.