Calculate Standard Deviation and Standard Error of the Mean in Excel

While Excel is useful for many applications, it is an indispensable tool for those managing statistics. Two common terms used in statistics are Standard Deviation and Standard Error of the Mean. It is difficult to calculate these values manually and while calculators make it easier, Excel is the preferred tool for finding these values over a range of cells.

How to calculate Standard Deviation in Excel

The Standard Deviation is a term used in statistics. The term describes how much the numbers if a set of data vary from the mean. The syntax to calculate the Standard Deviation is as follows:

=STDEV(sampling range)

Where the sampling range represented by:

(<first cell in the range>:<last cell in the range>)

• <first cell in the range> is the top-left cell in the range of cells
• <last cell in the range> is the bottom-right cell in the range of cells

Eg. If you need to find the Standard Error of the Mean across a range of cells in Excel from B3 to F6, the formula would become as follows:

=STDEV(B3:F6)

The Standard Error of the Mean is an important statistical measurement. It is used in applications associated with medicine, engineering, psychology, finance, biology, etc. If you wish to learn how to calculate Standard Error of the Mean in Excel, please read through this article.

The Standard Error of the Mean measures how far the sample mean is from the main population mean. While the formula for calculating it is a little complex, Excel makes it simple.

Read: How to insert Formulas and Functions in Microsoft Excel.

How to calculate Standard Error of the Mean in Excel

The syntax for the formula to calculate the Standard Error of the Mean in Excel is as follows:

Standard Error:

=STDEV(sampling range)/SQRT(COUNT(sampling range))

Where the sampling range represented by:

(<first cell in the range>:<last cell in the range>)

• <first cell in the range> is the top-left cell in the range of cells
• <last cell in the range> is the bottom-right cell in the range of cells

Eg. If you need to find the Standard Error of the Mean across a range of cells in Excel from B3 to F6, the formula would become as follows:

=STDEV(B3:F6)/SQRT(COUNT(B3:F6))

Enter this formula in the cell in which you need the value of Standard Error of the Mean.

Basically, Standard Error of the Mean = Standard Deviation/square root of number of samples

Hope it helps!