Why do we use standard deviation instead of variance in interpretation?
easyAnswer
- Variance has squared units , which are unintuitive.
- Standard deviation is the square root of variance and shares the units of the data, so it can be plotted alongside the mean and interpreted directly.
- Statistical theory tends to use variance because it decomposes nicely (sum of independent variances), while reporting typically uses SD.
Check yourself — multiple choice
- SD has squared units
- SD has the same units as the data; variance has squared units
- SD cannot be negative because it is complex
- Variance is always in the same units as the data
SD is in the data's units; variance is in squared units.
#descriptive#variance
Practise Statistics Fundamentals
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