VAR_POP

Syntax

VAR_POP(expr)

Description

Returns the population standard variance of expr. It considers rows as the whole population, not as a sample, so it has the number of rows as the denominator. You can also use VARIANCE(), which is equivalent but is not standard SQL.

Variance is calculated by

  • working out the mean for the set
  • for each number, subtracting the mean and squaring the result
  • calculate the average of the resulting differences

It is an aggregate function, and so can be used with the GROUP BY clause.

VAR_POP() can be used as a window function.

VAR_POP() returns NULL if there were no matching rows.

Examples

CREATE TABLE v(i tinyint);

INSERT INTO v VALUES(101),(99);

SELECT VAR_POP(i) FROM v;
+------------+
| VAR_POP(i) |
+------------+
|     1.0000 |
+------------+

INSERT INTO v VALUES(120),(80);

SELECT VAR_POP(i) FROM v;
+------------+
| VAR_POP(i) |
+------------+
|   200.5000 |
+------------+

As an aggregate function:

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE stats (category VARCHAR(2), x INT);

INSERT INTO stats VALUES 
  ('a',1),('a',2),('a',3),
  ('b',11),('b',12),('b',20),('b',30),('b',60);

SELECT category, STDDEV_POP(x), STDDEV_SAMP(x), VAR_POP(x) 
  FROM stats GROUP BY category;
+----------+---------------+----------------+------------+
| category | STDDEV_POP(x) | STDDEV_SAMP(x) | VAR_POP(x) |
+----------+---------------+----------------+------------+
| a        |        0.8165 |         1.0000 |     0.6667 |
| b        |       18.0400 |        20.1693 |   325.4400 |
+----------+---------------+----------------+------------+

As a window function:

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE student_test (name CHAR(10), test CHAR(10), score TINYINT);

INSERT INTO student_test VALUES 
    ('Chun', 'SQL', 75), ('Chun', 'Tuning', 73), 
    ('Esben', 'SQL', 43), ('Esben', 'Tuning', 31), 
    ('Kaolin', 'SQL', 56), ('Kaolin', 'Tuning', 88), 
    ('Tatiana', 'SQL', 87);

SELECT name, test, score, VAR_POP(score) 
  OVER (PARTITION BY test) AS variance_results FROM student_test;
+---------+--------+-------+------------------+
| name    | test   | score | variance_results |
+---------+--------+-------+------------------+
| Chun    | SQL    |    75 |         287.1875 |
| Esben   | SQL    |    43 |         287.1875 |
| Kaolin  | SQL    |    56 |         287.1875 |
| Tatiana | SQL    |    87 |         287.1875 |
| Chun    | Tuning |    73 |         582.0000 |
| Esben   | Tuning |    31 |         582.0000 |
| Kaolin  | Tuning |    88 |         582.0000 |
+---------+--------+-------+------------------+

See Also

Comments

Comments loading...
Content reproduced on this site is the property of its respective owners, and this content is not reviewed in advance by MariaDB. The views, information and opinions expressed by this content do not necessarily represent those of MariaDB or any other party.