32s - statistics

[Frank Rottgardt]

the 32s only gives direct access to one kind of standard deviation. The manual tells us "s" is calculated, and I think this must be the "estimated" standard deviation based on a sample (not on the population.

Can anybody confirm this?

[Jeff Kearns]

I can confirm that the 32s standard deviation 's' is a Sample Standard Deviation and not a Population Standard Deviation.

The 32sii offers both.

-- JK

[Walter B]

You are definitively right for the 32S. The vast majority of scientific calcs calculate the sample standard deviation, some also the population s.d., none (AFAIK) the standard error (i.e. the s.d. of the mean value).

[Thomas Klemm]

Quote:

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The vast majority of scientific calcs calculate the sample standard deviation

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A trick to calculate the population standard deviation would be to calculate the mean and add that value to the data before calculating the sample standard deviation.

Just to make sure we're talking about the same things:

• sample standard deviation:
  
• population standard deviation: