.std()

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Published Jun 20, 2024
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The .std() function calculates the standard deviation of given data along a specified axis. A standard deviation is a statistical measure indicating the spread of a distribution of data, represented by an array, along a specified axis.

Syntax

numpy.std(a, axis, dtype, out, ddof, keepdims, where)
  • a: Array of elements used to find the standard deviation.

Optional Parameters

  • axis: Specifies the axis along which the standard deviation will be computed. By default, the array is flattened before computation.

    • axis = 0: Calculates the standard deviation along the vertical axis.

    • axis = 1: Calculates the standard deviation along the horizontal axis.

    • tuple of ints: Calculates the standard deviation along multiple specified axes.

  • dtype: Type used in computing the standard deviation, if specified. By default, for arrays of integer type, it is float64, while for arrays of float types, it matches the array type.

    Note For floating-point inputs, the standard deviation is calculated with the same precision as the input data. This may cause inaccuracies, especially with np.float32 data type.

  • out: Specifies an alternative output array to contain the result. This array must have the same shape as the expected output.

  • ddof: It stands for Delta Degrees of Freedom. It helps adjust the calculation of standard deviation for samples.

  • keepdims: It accepts a boolean value and is used to determine whether to retain the dimensions of the input array in the output. By default, it is set to False.

  • where: It accepts boolean arrays or conditions where True values indicate the indices, or elements within the array for which the standard deviation should be calculated.

If the out parameter is None, the .std() function returns a new array containing the standard deviation. Otherwise, it assigns the result to the specified output array and returns its reference.

Note For complex numbers, std takes the absolute value before squaring for a real, nonnegative result.

Example

The following examples demonstrate the use of .std() with different parameters.

import numpy as np
arr = np.array([23, 54, 19, 45, 34])
print("arr : ", arr)
print("\nStandard deviation of arr : ", np.std(arr))
print("\nStandard deviation of arr (float32) : ", np.std(arr, dtype=np.float32))
print("\nStandard deviation of arr (float64) : ", np.std(arr, dtype=np.float64))

Given below is the output for the above code block:

arr : [23, 54, 19, 45, 34]
Standard deviation of arr : 13.130118049735882
Standard deviation of arr (float32) : 13.130117
Standard deviation of arr (float64) : 13.130118049735882

Codebyte Example

Run the below codebyte to better understand the .std() function:

Code
Output
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