variance Hear it!

variance Definition

vari·ance (ver′ē əns, var′-)

noun

  1. the quality, state, or fact of varying or being variant; a changing or tendency to change
  2. degree of change or difference; divergence; discrepancy
  3. official permission to bypass regulations; specif., permission to make nonconforming use of zoned property
  4. an active disagreement; quarrel; dispute
  5. Accounting the difference between the actual costs of production and the standard or expected costs
  6. Law a lack of agreement between two parts of a legal proceeding which should agree, as between a statement and the evidence offered in support of it
  7. Physical Chem. the number of degrees of freedom of a system
  8. Statistics the square of the standard deviation

Etymology: OFr < L variantia < L varians, prp. of variare, to vary

variance Idioms

at variance

not in agreement or accord; conflicting

variance Synonyms

variance

n.

change, fluctuations, deviation, modification, oscillation, mutation, variety, diversity, incongruity, disagreement; see also variation.

Antonyms agreement*, unity*, sameness.

variance Finance Definition
  1. An exception to zoning rules established by a city government. For example, a zoning variance may be granted to allow business activity in an area zoned for residential use.
  2. In accounting terms, the difference between the actual costs incurred to purchase materials and the standard costs for material, labor, and overhead. A positive variance occurs when the actual costs turn out to be lower than the standard or anticipated cost.
  3. In budgetary terms, the difference between the amount budgeted and the actual expense.
variance Law Definition

n

  1. A discrepancy between two documents or statements that should agree; especially in a criminal trial, a disparity between what is alleged in the charges and what is presented at trial as proof.
  2. In zoning law, an exception to a specified zoning regulation that may be granted by a zoning board or authority; for example, reducing the number of required parking spaces for a business below the number set forth in zoning regulations as being required for a business of that size or type.
variance Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • distribution: We assume that the variance of the resource distribution is finite.

Converse of object

  • calculate: To calculate variance, the mean of a group of scores is subtracted from each score to give a group of " deviations " .
  • estimate: Errors in estimating this white noise variance are translated to errors in scale of the AR spectral values.
  • adjust: Model based largely to adjust variance a doctor specialist.
  • explain: This is equivalent to one minus the explained variance of the model.
  • perceive: The graphs also show that the range of effective variances is well below the values of perceived variances.
  • minimize: Numbers of microscopic fields assessed per section and of sections per animal has been selected to minimize variance between animals.

Adjective modifier

  • winsorised: For 23 of 25 the test events in this region the Winsorised variance increased: the residuals became more dispersed.
  • asymptotic: Our idea relies on the use of adaptive methods that aim at reducing the asymptotic variance of the estimates.
  • adjusted: This returns the potential adjusted variance for, where N is an element contained in the base.
  • unexplained: The system security administrator could also be watched to ensure that there are no unexplained variances in normal duties.
  • unequal: For module ( i ) the t-Test two sample assuming unequal variance was employed.
  • favorable: The overall position for the first six months of the current financial year showed a favorable variance of £ 563,000.

Modifies a noun

  • covariance: The fourth option allows the user to specify a variance covariance matrix for the shocks.
  • matrix: The fourth option allows the user to specify a variance covariance matrix for the shocks.
  • estimation: Note that the population intraclass correlation can be estimated using variance component estimation methods.
  • array: In Figaro the variance array must not contain bad values.
  • component: The noise levels are recorded in the variance component of the output NDF.
  • estimate: A finite sample correction to the GMM variance estimate has been derived.

Noun used with modifier

  • error: Historically, these confounding effects have been controlled using linear models assuming a constant additive error variance.