Final Answer:
The Greek letter representing standard deviation in mathematical formulas is a. Sigma (Σ).
Step-by-step explanation:
In statistical analysis, the standard deviation, symbolized by the Greek letter sigma (Σ), measures the amount of variation or dispersion within a set of values. It signifies how much each individual value deviates from the mean of the dataset. Mathematically, the standard deviation is calculated by taking the square root of the variance, which is the average of the squared differences between each data point and the mean.
To compute the standard deviation for a set of values x₁, x₂, ..., xₙ:Find the mean (µ) of the dataset: µ = (x₁ + x₂ + ... + xₙ) / n, where 'n' is the total number of values.Calculate the differences between each value and the mean: (x₁ - µ), (x₂ - µ), ..., (xₙ - µ).Square each difference: (x₁ - µ)², (x₂ - µ)², ..., (xₙ - µ)².Find the average of these squared differences, known as the variance.Take the square root of the variance to get the standard deviation.
The standard deviation provides insight into the spread of data points from the mean and is crucial in various fields such as finance, science, and social sciences for analyzing and interpreting data variability. Its value helps in understanding the reliability of predictions or inferences drawn from the data, making it a fundamental concept in statistical analysis.