SQL VAR Function

The SQL VAR Function is an Aggregate Function, which is used to determine the statistical Variance of entire records (or rows) selected by the SELECT Statement. The syntax of the SQL Server VAR Function is

SELECT VAR ([Column_Name])
FROM [Source]

TIP: Sql Server VAR Function will only work on Numeric Columns, and it ignores Nulls.

SQL Var Function Formula

The mathematical formulas behind the function to calculate the Sql Server Statistical Variance is

--Calculating the Mean or Average
Mean = Sum of each individual/Total number of items

--Calculating the Statistical Variance
Variance = ((OriginalValue – Mean)² + (OriginalValue – Mean)² +.... )/(Total number of items - 1)

For this SQL Server Var Function demo, we use the below-shown data

SQL VAR Example

The SQL Server VAR returns the Variance of the total number of records present in the specified column. For example, the following query will calculate the variance of total records present in the [Yearly Income] column from the Customers table.

-- Example for SQL Server VAR Function
SELECT VAR ([YearlyIncome]) AS [Variance Income]    
  
  FROM [Customer]

OUTPUT

SQL VAR with Group By Clause

In most cases, we usually calculate the variance of products belongs to a particular category or color, etc. In these situations, we use GROUP BY Clause to group the products by color or category. Then use the Var Function to calculate the variance of products present in each group. Let us see the Aggregate Function Example

-- Example for SQL Server VAR Function
SELECT [Occupation]
       ,VAR ([YearlyIncome]) AS [Income Variance]    
  FROM [Customer]
  GROUP BY [Occupation]

Above SQL Server Query will find, the Customers associated with the particular Department and calculates their income variance

OUTPUT

ANALYSIS

It is too big to show the Mean and Variance calculations for everything. So, We are taking the Skilled Manual profession and show you the output.

--Calculating Mean
Mean = (60000 + 80000) / 2

Mean = 70000

--Calculating Variance
Variance = ( (60000 - 70000) + (80000 - 70000) ) / (2 -1)

Variance = 200000000

SQL Variance in Having Clause

When we are grouping the data, in some cases, we usually check for the conditions against the aggregated data. In these situations, we use the HAVING Clause along with Group By Statement.

For example, the following query will group the Customers by their Occupation, and then finds the Income variance of each group.

-- Example for SQL Server VAR Function
SELECT [Occupation]
       ,VAR ([YearlyIncome]) AS [Income Variance]    
 FROM [Customer]
 GROUP BY [Occupation]
 HAVING VAR ([YearlyIncome]) > 0

Below lines of code will check whether the aggregated amount (Variance of Yearly income for each Group) is greater than 0 or not. If this is True, then corresponding records or rows will display.

HAVING VAR ([YearlyIncome]) > 0

OUTPUT