How to Measure Average Deviation with AVEDEV

AVEDEV tells you how far values typically sit from their average, in plain units — easy to explain to anyone.

You will learn to

• Calculate the mean absolute deviation
• Compare variability for one group
• Express variability relative to the average

How it works

AVEDEV calculates the mean absolute deviation: the average distance of each value from the mean, ignoring whether it is above or below. =AVEDEV(C2:C11) on daily customer counts might return 36 — on a typical day you are about 36 customers away from your average.

Compared with the standard deviation, AVEDEV is easier to explain and less dominated by one extreme value, because distances are not squared. Standard deviation is still the standard for statistical tests; AVEDEV is great for operational reporting.

=AVEDEV(C2:C11)