Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In statistics, Bessel's correction is the use of n − 1 instead of n in the formula for the sample variance and sample standard deviation, [1] where n is the number of observations in a sample. This method corrects the bias in the estimation of the population variance.
Correction factor versus sample size n.. When the random variable is normally distributed, a minor correction exists to eliminate the bias.To derive the correction, note that for normally distributed X, Cochran's theorem implies that () / has a chi square distribution with degrees of freedom and thus its square root, / has a chi distribution with degrees of freedom.
Important examples include the sample variance and sample standard deviation. Without Bessel's correction (that is, when using the sample size instead of the degrees of freedom), these are both negatively biased but consistent estimators. With the correction, the corrected sample variance is unbiased, while the corrected sample standard ...
In normal unweighted samples, the N in the denominator (corresponding to the sample size) is changed to N − 1 (see Bessel's correction). In the weighted setting, there are actually two different unbiased estimators, one for the case of frequency weights and another for the case of reliability weights .
The use of the term n − 1 is called Bessel's correction, and it is also used in sample covariance and the sample standard deviation (the square root of variance). The square root is a concave function and thus introduces negative bias (by Jensen's inequality ), which depends on the distribution, and thus the corrected sample standard ...
1.2 Bessel's correction. 3 comments. 1.3 Define a Pseudo-topology. 11 comments. Toggle the table of contents. Wikipedia ...
This is known as Bessel's correction. [2] [3] Roughly, the reason for it is that the formula for the sample variance relies on computing differences of observations from the sample mean, and the sample mean itself was constructed to be as close as possible to the observations, so just dividing by n would underestimate the variability.
Welcome to the Wikipedia Mathematics Reference Desk Archives; The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.