Final answer:
Relative standard deviation (RSD) is a statistical measure of variability relative to the mean, used in fields like chemistry and therapeutic drug monitoring to evaluate the precision of a set of values.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term RSD refers to relative standard deviation, which is a statistical measurement used in various fields, such as chemistry and medicine, to express the level of precision or the variability in a set of values, relative to the mean of the values.
It is commonly used in contexts like therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) to gauge the consistency of a measurement, where maintaining precise drug concentrations within a specific range is crucial.
Relative standard deviation is calculated by taking the standard deviation of a set of data, dividing it by the mean, and then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.
This percentage indicates how much variance there is from the average. A lower RSD indicates that the results are more consistent, whereas a higher RSD suggests greater variability among the data points.