What is the mean absolute deviation

3,5,8,1,4

the mean is 4.2

Mean absolute deviation: 1.84.

Step-by-step explanation:

How do you find the mean absolute deviation for a bunch of numbers?

Calculate the average (a. k. a. mean) of the numbers. Calculate the absolute difference (just discard any negative "-" sign in front of the difference) between each number and the mean. The mean absolute deviation is the average of all those absolute differences.

What's the mean of those numbers?

(3 + 5 + 8 + 1 + 4) / 5 = 4.2.

Absolute difference:

3 - 4.2 = - 1.2. Drop the negative sign to get 1.2. 5 - 4.2 = 0.8. 8 - 4.2 = 3.8. 1 - 4.2 = - 3.2. Drop the negative sign to get 3.2. 4 - 4.2 = - 0.2. Drop the negative sign to get 0.2.

What's the average of those absolute differences?

(1.2 + 0.8 + 3.8 + 3.2 + 0.2) / 5 = 1.84. That's the mean absolute deviation of those five numbers.