Essentials of Corproate Finance by Ross, Westerfield, and Jordan

Notes on Chap. 10- Calculating the Variance and Standard Deviation

Since there are four years of returns, we calculate the variables by dividing .2675 by (4-1)=3:

Year (1)
Actual Return
(2) 
Average Return
(3) 
Deviation
(1)-(2)
(4)
Squared Division
1997 -.20 .175 -.375 .140625
1998 .50 .175 .325 .105625
1999 .30 .175 .125 .015625
2000 .10 .175 -.075 .005625
Totals .70 .000 .267500

                                                                                        Supertech                                             Hyperdrive
Variance .2675/3 = .0892 .0529/3 = .0176
Standard Deviation sq. root of .0892 = .2987 sq. root of .0176 = .1327

 
 
 
 

Series Average Return Risk Premium Standard Deviation
Large-company stocks 13.3% 9.5% 20.1%
Small-company stocks 17.6 13.8% 33.6
Long-term corporate bonds 5.9 2.1 8.7
Long-term government 5.5 1.7 9.3
Intermediate-term government 5.4 0.0 5.8
U.S. Treasury bills 3.8 3.2
Inflation 3.2 4.5