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From:
Subject: Re: [TMG] Commonlaw Marriage
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 01:07:40 EST
Standard Deviation is a term used when defining the statistics of a
distribution. Do you remember high school and curving grades and the term
"bell curve"? Well, this is what it is related to.
In simple terms, a population can be represented mathematically by a simple
geometric function called a Gaussian distribution, or bell curve. In other
words, you take a sample population (for example, age of all males in your
database when they first marry). You then "fit" a bell curve to it. The
average, or mean, is simply the sum of all those ages divided by the number
of people. The standard deviation defines how flat that bell is.
Mathematically, one standard deviation (usually referred to as one sigma) is
the value at which about 68% of the population lies. So if your database has
an average of say 25 years for the age of first marriage, and a standard
deviation of say 7 years, then 68% of the people in your database marry at 25
years plus or minus 7 years.
Hope this illucidates the subject just a little. There are a number of good
sites with explanations of statistics. Just do a google search for "Gaussian
Distribution Standard Deviation".
Darrel
In a message dated 12/2/01 4:29:50 PM Central Standard Time,
writes:
> Stumbled on Statistical Report (last on the list!) one day. Wish I had time
> to "play around" with it. Might develope some interesting figures. Little
> confused by "Standard Deviation," etc.
>
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