Population variance
values = 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 9type = population
Result: σ² = 4.00
Variance Calculator
Calculate the variance of any data set with the sample (n − 1) or population (n) formula. Variance measures how spread out your data is; the calculator also reports the standard deviation, mean, count, and sum.
Enter your values and press Calculate — the result appears here.
Worked examples
Sample variance
values = 10, 12, 23type = sample
Result: s² = 49.00
Frequently asked questions
What is variance?
Variance measures how far a data set's values spread from the mean: the average of the squared differences from the mean. A variance of 0 means every value is identical; larger variance means more spread.
Sample or population — which should I use?
Use population variance when your data is the entire group (all students, all parts from one batch). Use sample variance when your data is a subset and you want to estimate the variance of the whole group — it divides by n − 1 to correct for the underestimation bias.
Why is variance squared?
Squaring the differences removes the sign (so deviations above and below the mean do not cancel out) and gives more weight to outliers. The standard deviation is simply the square root of the variance, back in the original units.
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