In statistical terms, what does the term "variance" refer to?

Variance is a statistical measure that quantifies the spread of data points in a dataset. It provides insight into how much individual data points differ from the mean of the dataset. A higher variance indicates that data points are more dispersed from the mean, while a lower variance suggests that they are closer to it. This concept is crucial in statistics as it helps understand the degree of variability within a dataset, which can be essential for various analyses, including inferential statistics.

The other concepts mentioned, such as the average of data values, correlation between two variables, and the mode, refer to different statistical measures. The average (or mean) provides a central value, correlation assesses the relationship between two variables, and the mode identifies the most frequently occurring value in a dataset. These terms serve different roles in statistical analysis, highlighting the distinct nature of variance and its importance in understanding data distribution.