Standard deviation can be difficult to interpret as a single number on its own. Basically, a small standard deviation means that the values in a statistical data set are close to the mean of the data set, on average, and a large standard deviation means that the values in the data set are farther away from the mean, on average.
Step-by-step explanation:
The standard deviation can never be a negative number, due to the way it’s calculated and the fact that it measures a distance (distances are never negative numbers).
The smallest possible value for the standard deviation is 0, and that happens only in contrived situations where every single number in the data set is exactly the same.
The standard deviation is affected by outliers (extremely low or extremely high numbers in the data set). That’s because the standard deviation is based on the distance from the mean. And remember, the mean is also affected by outliers.
The standard deviation has the same units as the original data.
