How to calculate variance in statistics
1. Calculate the mean of the data set by adding up all the numbers and dividing by the total number of values.
2. Subtract the mean from each data point to find the deviation of each value from the mean.
3. Square each deviation to eliminate negative values and to focus on the magnitude of the difference.
4. Add up all the squared deviations to find the sum of squares.
5. Divide the sum of squares by the total number of data points to find the variance.
Variance = sum of squared deviations / total number of values
Alternatively, you can use the following formula to calculate the variance:
Variance = Σ(x - μ)² / n
Where:
- Σ represents the sum of values
- x represents each individual value
- μ represents the mean
- n represents the total number of values in the data set.