opinion of variance

[WalterMitty]

discuss.

[Oakvale]

why

[Antonio the Sixth]

Variance, as in, the statistical measurement?

Useful obviously, though only insofar as it allows to calculate the standard deviation. Variance in itself is a pretty meaningless number.

[muon2]

Variance, as in, the statistical measurement?

Useful obviously, though only insofar as it allows to calculate the standard deviation. Variance in itself is a pretty meaningless number.

It has many uses in statistics beyond its use to find the standard deviation. It's easier to use for applications involving multiple random distributions. It's the natural parameter for certain common distributions like Poisson.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I much prefer excelsus's threads.

[President Tyrion]

Variance, as in, the statistical measurement?

Useful obviously, though only insofar as it allows to calculate the standard deviation. Variance in itself is a pretty meaningless number.

It has many uses in statistics beyond its use to find the standard deviation. It's easier to use for applications involving multiple random distributions. It's the natural parameter for certain common distributions like Poisson.

Yep. I might as well quote my comment in the last thread:

Anyone who thinks the standard deviation variance is not useful just hasn't been exposed to enough statistics.

Simply put, that's like asking if an electron microscope is useful for microbiologists, or the whether the LHC is useful for particle physicists. Not knowing how to use something is no excuse for calling it useless.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Of course variance is useful.

Especially, say, in calculating the probability of a river reaching a certain flood level in any given year.

In fact, variance is very useful in calculating the probability of any weather event where standard deviations are less useful.

An example might be coastal California where record low temperatures are much closer to the average low than the record highs.  This is because every so often high pressure sets up in the Great Basin and produces a northeasterly wind known as the Santa Ana which pushes hot desert air to the coast.

So average high temperatures are often useless in these areas.  People in California know that most days will see high temps slightly below the average... interspersed with infrequent days well above the average.