In this lesson, students are introduced to standard deviation as a measure of variation that is similar to the mean absolute deviation (MAD).

Standard deviation is a measure of variability that is similar to the mean absolute deviation. It is not important that students calculate the value by hand, although an extension is available for students who are curious.

When students manipulate data to achieve various specified measures of center or variability, they make use of the structure underlying standard deviation as a measure of variability (MP7).