Median Absolute Deviation

Statistic

Median Absolute Deviation (MAD) is a robust statistic used to measure the variability or dispersion of a dataset around its median. Unlike standard deviation, which uses the mean and squared differences, MAD is less sensitive to outliers and extreme values. It is calculated as the median of the absolute deviations from the data’s median. This characteristic makes it particularly valuable in financial data analysis, where extreme events are common. It offers a resilient measure of spread.