Title: variance
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - variance
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.V06602
Status: current

Definition
The sum of the squares of the standard deviations, expressing the contributions to the overall precision from various sources of uncertainty.

Related Terms
- precision: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04799
- standard deviations: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/S05911

Sources
- Orange Book, 2nd ed., p. 5 (https://media.iupac.org/publications/analytical_compendium/)
- PAC, 1990, 62, 2167. 'Glossary of atmospheric chemistry terms (Recommendations 1990)' on page 2218 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199062112167)
- PAC, 1994, 66, 595. 'Nomenclature for the presentation of results of chemical analysis (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 601 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199466030595)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/V06602/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/V06602/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/V06602/xml

Citation: Citation: 'variance' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.V06602
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-07-23T18:16:16+00:00