The Ministry is migrating nzmaths content to Tāhurangi.
Relevant and up-to-date teaching resources are being moved to Tāhūrangi (tahurangi.education.govt.nz).
When all identified resources have been successfully moved, this website will close. We expect this to be in June 2024.
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For more information visit https://tahurangi.education.govt.nz/updates-to-nzmaths
A measure of spread for a distribution of a sample of numerical values that determines the degree to which the values differ from the sample mean.
It is calculated by the average of the squares of the deviations of the values from their sample mean.
The positive square root of the sample variance is equal to the sample standard deviation.
It is recommended that a calculator or software is used to calculate the sample variance. On a calculator the square of the standard deviation will give the variance.
A common symbol for the sample variance is s2.
The sample variance is a (sample) statistic and is therefore an estimate of the population variance.
See: measure of spread, sample standard deviation, variance
Curriculum achievement objectives references
Statistical investigation: Levels (7), (8)
