Statistics: Mean and Variance

Try these parameter values:

Statandard Normal

Mean: 0.0

Variance: 1.0

Statistics: Mean and Variance

The mean, also known as the arithemetic average, is a measure of central tendency. This descriptive statistic is the value that is most representative of the population or sample in question. The sample mean is calculated as:

The variance, which is the square of the standard deviation, is a measure of dispersion. This descriptive statistic is a measurement of the amount of variation in the population or sample. The sample variance is calculated as:

Statistics: Mean and Variance

Adjust the mean and variance to the right:

For the distribution, the adjusting the mean will move the distribution along the x axis, whereas adjusting the variance wild change the width of the distribution.

For the population the lengths of each line represents the value of a character for an individual. Note that changing the variance will change the amount of variation in the population