RMSE vs standard deviation

evidenso

hello
can anyone explain what the difference is between RMSE and standard deviation. I am using RMSE in multivariate analysis but is it just the standard dev. why another name?

mathman

It may be a quibble, but sometimes standard deviation means the theoretical value, while RMSE might be used for the value derived from the data. (I could be wrong).

stewartcs

If I recall correctly, the standard deviation is an actual population parameter whereas the RMSE is based on a model (e.g. regression analysis). In other words, the RMSE is an estimator of the standard deviation based on your model results. If it is an unbiased estimator, then it will be equal to the standard error.

CS

NoMoreExams

Not sure if this is a credible source but a quick google search reveals http://www.sportsci.org/resource/stats/rmse.html