Standard deviation
real life example :
average height for adult men in the United States is about 70”, with a standard deviation of around 3”.
This means that most men (about 68%, assuming a normal distribution)
have a height within 3” of the mean (67”–73”) one standard deviation
and almost all men (about 95%) have a height within 6” of the mean (64”–76”) : two standard deviations.
If the standard deviation were zero, then all men would be exactly 70” tall. If the standard deviation were 20”, then men would have much more variable heights, with a typical range of about 50”–90”. Three standard deviations account for 99.7% of the sample population being studied, assuming the distribution is normal (bell-shaped).