Help: Does "dim_variance" compute "population variance" or "sample variance"?

Hi,
       Did anybody know the value calculated by the function "dim_variance" /"dim_variance_n" is "population variance" or "sample variance"?

      I am a little puzzle after I read the following sentence on http://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Document/Functions/Built-in/dim_variance.shtml: "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."

       As I know (please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variance#Population_variance_and_sample_variance), the population mean or population variance means it divides by [1/N], not by [1/(N-1)]. Does the NCL web documents get a written mistake there?

      Any suggestion or information is greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Li

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Received on Sat Apr 7 23:35:11 2012