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Covariance Definition

Covariance can be a confusing term. This is because many people approach statistics from an interpretation standpoint rather than a mathematical one. Unfortunately, statistics can rarely offer us the complete description of a relationship between variables. However, learning about their mathematical meaning can help you understand when to use them and why.Covariance is a measure of the directional relationship between two numerical variables. In other words, it measures how strong one variable follows the directional movement of another variable. 

Definition Example
Covariance Calculation of how the means of two variables move together If the price of bread increases, the price of jam also increases

 

Covariance can be either positive or negative. The table below summarizes how you can interpret variance.

 

Covariance Interpretation
Positive Two variables move in the same direction
Negative Two variables move in opposite directions

 

Covariance is a statistic that is often used in finance. This is a result of its ability to reliably measure whether two stocks will move in the same direction.

 

Covariance Formula

Recall that in statistics, you have a population and a sample. The differences between the two are listed in the table below.

 

Population Sample
Definition Includes all the things you want to measure Is a subset of the population you want to study
Example All the posts on a social media platform A sample of 5,000 posts on a social media platform
Size Usually very large because it includes all the things you want to study Relatively smaller than the population, should be representative of the population
Measures Population parameter Sample statistic

 

In this case, we have two formulas for the covariance. The formula for the population covariance is:

cov_population_formula

 

The sample covariance, on the other hand, is calculated as below.

cov_sample_formula

 

The variables in the formula are explained in the table below.

 

Variable Description
The ith value of x (for example, the 2nd measured value of x)
The ith value of y corresponding to the ith value of x
The sample mean of x
The sample mean of y
n The sample size

 

Covariance versus Correlation

Many people get a bit confused on the differences between covariance and correlation. Recall that the correlation coefficient is a measure of the strength of a linear relationship between two variables. The table below summarizes both.

 

Equation Definition Example
Correlation The measure of the strength of the linear relationship between two variables The correlation between rain and tourism is strong
Covariance Direction two variables move with each other The covariance between rain and tourism is negative, meaning as rain goes up tourism goes down

 

The correlation of a variable can also tell us the direction of movement of two variables. For example, if there is a negative correlation, it indicates the same thing as a negative covariance: as one variable moves, the other variable moves in the opposite direction. However, the main difference is that the correlation tells us about the strength of the relationship. While we may know that two variables move in opposite directions with the covariance, we cannot tell how strong this relationship is.

 

The correlation, on the other hand, can give us an idea if the relationship between two variables is weak or strong.

perfect_correlationweak_correlation

 

 

Problem 1

The following data set is from a bicycle company. The company is interested in understanding the relationship between their bike sales and the amount they’ve spent on ads around the city. Given the following data set, calculate the covariance using the formulas provided earlier in this section. Then, interpret the graph provided using the covariance you have calculated.

regression_graph

 

Bike Sales Ad Expenditure
5 10
10 50
16 100
18 160
25 150
35 200
24 220

 

Solution to Problem 1

Recall that there are two possible formulas we can use to calculate the covariance. Since we do not have data on all of the bikes ever sold by the company, we need to use the sample covariance.

The first thing you will need to do is calculate the mean of both variables, which is done below.

cov_sample_formula

\[

bar{x} = \dfrac{10+50+100+160+150+200+220}{7} = 127

\]

\[

bar{y} = \dfrac{5+10+16+18+25+35+24}{7} = 19

\]

 

Next, you will have to subtract this mean from each variable and then multiply these two subtracted values together.

 

-14 -117 1640
-9 -77 694
-3 -27 81
-1 33 -33
6 23 137
16 73 1166
5 93 464
Total 4150

 

Next, plug it back into the equation

 

\[

cov(x,y) = \dfrac{4150}{7-1} = 692

\]

 

Since the covariance is positive, we can say with certainty that ad expenditure and bike sales move together. As ad expenditure increases, so do bike sales.

 

Problem 2

Given the following graph, interpret the relationship between the two variables given. Next, describe the difference between the covariance and correlation.

strong_correlation

 

Solution to Problem 2

In order to interpret the graph, let’s take a look at the covariance and correlation.

  • Covariance: 692
  • Correlation: 0.89

The first thing we notice is that they both have the same sign: both are positive. The covariance and correlation of two variables will always have the same sign, as the correlation is simply the covariance divided by the multiplied standard deviations of x and y. Since the standard deviation is always positive, we can see how the covariance determines the sign of the correlation coefficient.

This means that both numbers can tell us about the directional relationship simply by knowing whether they are positive or negative. The difference between covariance and correlation, however, is that the correlation can also tell us how strong this directional relationship is. These two variables have a correlation coefficient of 0.89, which is a very high correlation. Therefore, we can say that not only do these variables move in the same direction, but that this movement is highly predictable.

 

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Emma

Emma

I am passionate about travelling and currently live and work in Paris. I like to spend my time reading, gardening, running, learning languages and exploring new places.