Python statistics.variance() Method

Example

Calculate the variance from a sample of data:

# Import statistics Library
import statistics

# Calculate the variance from a sample of data
print(statistics.variance([1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11]))
print(statistics.variance([2, 2.5, 1.25, 3.1, 1.75, 2.8]))
print(statistics.variance([-11, 5.5, -3.4, 7.1]))
print(statistics.variance([1, 30, 50, 100]))

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Definition and Usage

The statistics.variance() method calculates the variance from a sample of data (from a population).

A large variance indicates that the data is spread out, - a small variance indicates that the data is clustered closely around the mean.

Tip: To calculate the variance of an entire population, look at the statistics.pvariance() method.

Syntax

statistics.variance(data, xbar)

Parameter Values

Parameter	Description
data	Required. The data values to be used (can be any sequence, list or iterator)
xbar	Optional. The mean of the given data. If omitted (or set to None), the mean is automatically calculated

Note: If data has less than two values, it returns a StatisticsError.

Technical Details

Return Value:	A `float` value, representing the sample variance of the given data
Python Version:	3.4

❮ Statistic Methods