Does a standard deviation have to be below 1?

Answer 1

Standard deviation is a measure of the spread of data around the mean. However, a large standard deviation for one set of data could represent the same spread for another set with a smaller standard deviation.
e.g.
S.D. of 1,3,5 = 1.633 (to 4sf)
S.D. of 10,20,30 = 10x1.633 = 16.33 (to 4sf)
S.D. of 100,200,300 = 100x1.633 = 163.3 (to 4sf)

These sets of data are just multiples of each other and have an equal spread about the mean but their S.D.'s range from 1.633 to 163.
Standard deviation can, in theory, be anything from zero upwards but can only be interpreted with reference to the data from which it was derived.
Hope this helps you.

Answer 2

No. Standard deviation is a measurement of variability around the mean of the set of data. If the data is extremely spread out, then the standard deviation will be higher. Theoretically speaking, there is no maximum value for the standard deviation, however, in practice it usually doesn't take on extremely high values.

Answer 3

No, standard deviation totally relies on the spread of data, so if there were anomalous results, it would create a SD of more than 1.

Answer 4

No. Standand deviations can have very large values depending upon the set of data.

Answer 5

No. It's a probability that has to be below 1.

Answer 6

No.The standard deviation can also be greater than one.example the data 1,3,5 have the standard deviation greater than one.

Answer 7

No.

This might help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_deviation

Answer 8

No - they can in fact be very large values