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... > medicine > clinical medicine > medical decision making > biostatistics and clinical epidemiology > variance and covariance

... > medicine > clinical medicine > medical decision making > biostatistics and clinical epidemiology > variance and covariance

Preferred term

variance and covariance

Definition

The variance of a random variable X quantifies the spread or dispersion of the distribution of X. A random variable is essentially a function or rule that associates a number with the outcome of an experiment. Examples of random variables are an individual's weight, the number of inpatient admissions at a hospital on a single day, and a binary indicator (e.g., assigning values of 0 = no or 1 = yes) of whether or not a patient participating in a study had his or her conditions improve after taking a new drug. [Source: Encyclopedia of Medical Decision Making; Variance and Covariance]

Broader concept

biostatistics and clinical epidemiology

Belongs to group

methods

URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/variance_and_covariance

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