coefficient of variation
[¦kō·ə′fish·ənt əv ‚ver·ē′ā·shən] (statistics)
The ratio of the standard deviation of a distribution to its arithmetic mean.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
coefficient of variation
The standard deviation expressed as a percentage of the average.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Coefficient of Variation
the ratio of the quadratic deviation to the average value. In variational statistics the difference of any set of positive numbers x1,... ,xn from their arithmetic average x¯ = (x1 +... xn)/n is characterized by the standard deviation
A relative characteristic of such “scatter” is the coefficient of variation s/x¯. In probability theory and mathematical statistics the coefficient of variation of a positive random quantity X is defined as the ratio σ/a, where a = EX is the mathematical expectation, and σ2 = DX = E(X -a)2 is the dispersion. If X is the result of the measurement of some unknown positive constant a = EX, then the coefficient of variation is a natural characteristic of the relative error of measurement.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.