Step 1 :Step 1: Calculate the mean (average) by adding up the values and dividing by the number of values: \(\frac{3+4+8+1+6}{5} = \frac{22}{5} = 4.4\)
Step 2 :Step 2: Subtract the mean from each value to get the deviation from the mean: \(3-4.4=-1.4, 4-4.4=-0.4, 8-4.4=3.6, 1-4.4=-3.4, 6-4.4=1.6\)
Step 3 :Step 3: Square each deviation to get the squared deviations: \((-1.4)^2=1.96, (-0.4)^2=0.16, 3.6^2=12.96, (-3.4)^2=11.56, 1.6^2=2.56\)
Step 4 :Step 4: Calculate the mean of the squared deviations: \(\frac{1.96+0.16+12.96+11.56+2.56}{5} = \frac{29.2}{5} = 5.84\)
Step 5 :Step 5: The standard deviation is the square root of the mean of the squared deviations: \(\sqrt{5.84} = 2.42\)