someone please explain Standard Deviation to me.

Question

First of all, an example; mean age of the children in a test is 12.93, with a standard deviation of .76.

Now, maybe I am just over thinking this, but everything I Google gives me this big convoluted explanation of what standard deviation is without addressing the kiddy pool I’m standing in.

Edit: you guys have been fantastic! This has all helped tremendously, if I could hug you all I would.

In: Mathematics

Answer 1

In your data set you have an average age of 13. The standard deviating is close to one.

This means that, in the group, you’ll have some 12 and 14yo kids, too.

If the standard deviation were like 5, you could have an average of 13 still, but also have a bunch of 8 and 18yo kids.