Variance is the average of the sum of squares of the difference between each data and the average, that is:

Where x represents the average of samples, n represents the number of samples, xi represents individuals, and S 2 represents variance.

In probability theory and statistics, the variance of a random variable describes its deviation, that is, the distance between the variable and its expected value. The arithmetic square root of variance is called the standard deviation of random variables.

statistical significance

When the data distribution is scattered (that is, the data fluctuates greatly around the average value), the sum of squares of differences between each data and the average value is large, and the variance is large; When the data distribution is concentrated, the sum of squares of the differences between each data and the average value is very small. Therefore, the greater the variance, the greater the data fluctuation; The smaller the variance, the smaller the data fluctuation.

The average value of the sum of squares of the difference between the data in the sample and the average value of the sample is called sample variance; The arithmetic square root of sample variance is called sample standard deviation. Sample variance and sample standard deviation are both measures of sample fluctuation. The greater the sample variance or standard deviation, the greater the fluctuation of sample data.

Above content reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Variance