variance

Computes an unbiased estimate the variance of all input points.

Prototype

	function variance (
		value  : numeric   
	)

	return_val [1] :  float or double

Arguments

An array of any dimensionality.

Return value

Returns a floating point value, or type double if value is of type double.

Description

This function computes the unbiased estimate of the variance for all input points, regardless of the dimensionality of the input. Technically, this function calculates an estimate of the population variance. This means that it divides by [1/(N-1)] where N is the total number of non-missing values.

See Also

dim_variance

Examples

Example 1

The following calculates the sample variance of 5 values.

  f = (/ 7, 9, -2, -8, 2/)
  variance_f = variance(f)
  print(variance_f)

Variable: variance_f
Type: float
Total Size: 4 bytes
            1 values
Number of Dimensions: 1
Dimensions and sizes:   [1]
Coordinates: 
(0)     47.3

Example 2

The following calculates the overall variance of a (3,5,10) array, f.

  f = onedtond(ispan(1, 150, 1), (/3, 5, 10/))
  variance_f = variance(f)
  print(variance_f)

Variable: variance_f
Type: float
Total Size: 4 bytes
            1 values
Number of Dimensions: 1
Dimensions and sizes:   [1]
Coordinates: 
(0)     1887.5