variance
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈvɛə.ɹi.əns/
ipa: /ˈvɛː.ɹi.əns/
note: without the Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈvæɹ.i.əns/
note: US, Mary–marry–merry merger, Canada
ipa: /ˈvɛɹ.i.əns/
ipa: /ˈveː.ɹi.əns/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /ˈveə.ɹi.əns/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /ˈviə.ɹi.əns/
Forms: form: variances
form: variaunce
form: var
Etymology: From Middle English variance, variaunce, equivalent to vary + -ance, from Old French variance or directly from Anglo-Latin variaunce, veriaunce, wariaunce; all from Latin variantia.
Senses: glosses: The act of varying or the state of being variable.
examples: text: Certain other factors were considered to explain the variance from expected figures. All seven aviators smoked. Each considered himself to be in good physical condition, though none found the time to exercise regularly. No aviator was obese.
ref: 1973, United States Army Aviation Digest - Volume 19, page 18:
text: This remains an important tool and relies on simple subtraction to evaluate the difference ( variance ) between a planned result and an actual measurement.
ref: 2004, F. L. Harrison, Dennis Lock, Advanced Project Management: A Structured Approach, page 212:
text: Whenever a patient is recorded as having a variance (V), it is important to return soon afterwards to see if the care intervention has helped.
ref: 2012, Penny Howard, Becky Whittaker (nee Chady), Karen Holland, Placement Learning in Cancer & Palliative Care Nursing, page 160:
text: The study not only showed IQ variance between children the same parents, but because the authors had the IQ scores of various parents, it demonstrated that parents with higher IQs tended to have more kids, ruling out the dysgenic fertility theory as a driver of falling IQ scores and highlighting the role of environmental factors instead.
ref: 2018 June 13, Rory Smith, “IQ scores are falling and have been for decades, new study finds”, in CNN:
glosses: A difference between what is expected and what is observed; deviation.
examples: text: But here, again, is the old variance between nature and fortune: each seems to delight in marring the work of the other.
ref: 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Chapter XXVII. Lady Marchmont to Sir Jasper Meredith.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 246:
glosses: The state of differing or being in conflict.
glosses: An official permit to do something that is ordinarily forbidden by regulations.
topics: law
glosses: A discrepancy between two legal documents.
topics: law
glosses: A departure from a cause of action originally in a complaint.
topics: mathematics
sciences
statistics
glosses: The second central moment in probability.
topics: biology
chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: The number of degrees of freedom in a system.
examples: text: Depending on the variance of the type constructor, the subtyping relation of the simple types may be either preserved, reversed, or ignored for the respective complex types.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
programming
sciences
glosses: Covariance and contravariance generally.
Derived terms: analysis of variance
at variance
covariance
equivariance
multivariance
product variance
semivariance
subvariance