Coefficient of variation

In probability theory and statistics, the coefficient of variation (CV) is a measure of dispersion of a probability distribution. It is defined as the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean:

<math>c_{v} = {\sigma \over \mu }.<math>

The coefficient of variation is a dimensionless number that allows comparision of the variation of populations that have significantly different mean values. It is often reported as on a scale of of 0–100 by multiplying the above calculation by 100.