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12 votes
12 votes
Construct a sample (with at least two different values in the set) of 4 measurements whose variance is negative.

User Mike Ellery
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1 Answer

20 votes
20 votes

Variance is never negative.

The standard deviation measures the spread of the data. The variance is the square of the standard deviation.

For instance, if we had a standard deviation of 5, then the variance is 25.

It's not possible to have a negative standard deviation value (because a negative spread makes no sense).

The smallest that both quantities can get is 0.

User Closery
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