With that, Excel can generate a series of random numbers based on the data entered and the standard deviation. With this data you can then create a curved chart, known as a bell curve.

An asset's standard deviation tells you how much its particular and average returns vary. You can quickly calculate or look up the standard deviation of different assets. A high standard deviation ...

Following up on that, of course, calculating statistical measures such as standard deviation and correlation manually can be cumbersome.