Let’s see how to calculate variance in Numpy python module.
Variance calculations
Calculating variance in Python is straightforward, and with NumPy, it becomes even more convenient.
NumPy provides a dedicated function, var, to calculate a variance.
import numpy as np my_array = np.array([1, 5, 7, 5, 43, 43, 8, 43, 6]) variance = np.var(my_array) print("Variance equals: " + str(round(variance, 2)))
How to calculate population variance and sample variance
The var function in NumPy can calculate both population and sample variance. By default, it calculates the population variance. To calculate sample variance, set the ddof (Delta Degrees of Freedom) parameter to 1:
# Population variance population_variance = np.var(my_array) # Sample variance sample_variance = np.var(my_array, ddof=1)
Setting ddof to 1 adjusts the denominator in the variance formula, providing an accurate estimate for the sample variance.
Check also:
how to calculate a Variance in Excel