The symbol for Standard Deviation is σ (the Greek letter sigma). This is the formula for Standard Deviation: Say what? Please explain! OK. Let us explain it step by step. Say we have a bunch of numbers like 9, 2, 5, 4, 12, 7, 8, 11. To calculate the standard deviation of those numbers: 1. Work out the Mean (the simple average of the numbers) 2.