Origin: Latin suffix -ance
Variance has 8 different meanings across 1 category:
an event that departs from expectations
"The sudden power outage was a variance in our carefully scheduled day of events."
the second moment around the mean; the expected value of the square of the deviations of a random variable from its mean value
"The variance of the dataset was calculated by finding the average of the squared differences between each data point and the mean."
a difference between conflicting facts or claims or opinions
"a growing divergence of opinion"
the quality of being subject to variation
"The variance in our daily commute times makes it difficult to plan a reliable arrival schedule."
an official dispensation to act contrary to a rule or regulation (typically a building regulation)
"a zoning variance"
The act of varying or the state of being variable.
"The variance in his daily schedule made it difficult to plan our meetings."
In plain English: Variance is when something differs from what was expected or planned to happen.
"The variance between the budget and actual spending surprised everyone at the meeting."
Usage: In statistics and finance, variance specifically measures how spread out data points are from their average value rather than just describing general differences. Use this term to quantify inconsistency in results instead of simply stating that things vary without measurement.
The word entered English in the 14th century as a combination of "vary" and the suffix "-ance." It traces its roots back to the Old French variance and ultimately to the Latin variantia.