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Understanding the degrees of freedom of sample variance by using Microsoft Excel
Author(s) -
Ding JianHua,
Jin XianWen,
Shuai LingYing
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
teaching statistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.425
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1467-9639
pISSN - 0141-982X
DOI - 10.1111/test.12134
Subject(s) - microsoft excel , grasp , variance (accounting) , degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) , sample (material) , computer science , meaning (existential) , statistics , mathematics , programming language , psychology , operating system , thermodynamics , physics , accounting , business , psychotherapist
Summary In this article, the degrees of freedom of the sample variance are simulated by using the Visual Basic for Applications of Microsoft Excel 2010. The simulation file dynamically displays why the sample variance should be calculated by dividing the sum of squared deviations by n ‐1 rather than n , which is helpful for students to grasp the meaning of degrees of freedom.