Definition of mean absolute deviation

Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) is a statistical measure that quantifies the average absolute differences between each data point in a dataset and the dataset's mean. It provides insight into the variability or dispersion of the data by calculating the average of these absolute differences. MAD is particularly useful because it is less sensitive to outliers compared to other measures of dispersion, such as standard deviation. It is commonly used in fields like finance, quality control, and any area where understanding variability is essential.