ID EN
Statistics

variance

Python 3.11

Return the sample variance of data, an iterable of at least two real-valued numbers. Variance, or second moment about the mean, is a measure of the variability (spread or dispersion) of data. A large variance indicates that the data is spread out; a small variance indicates it is clustered closely around the mean.

Syntax

PYTHON
statistics.variance(data, xbar=None)

Examples

Example 1
PYTHON
>>> data = [2.75, 1.75, 1.25, 0.25, 0.5, 1.25, 3.5]
>>> variance(data)
1.3720238095238095
Example 2
PYTHON
>>> m = mean(data)
>>> variance(data, m)
1.3720238095238095
Example 3
PYTHON
>>> from decimal import Decimal as D
>>> variance([D("27.5"), D("30.25"), D("30.25"), D("34.5"), D("41.75")])
Decimal('31.01875')

>>> from fractions import Fraction as F
>>> variance([F(1, 6), F(1, 2), F(5, 3)])
Fraction(67, 108)

See Also

pvariance() StatisticsError pvariance()