Calculate mean and standard deviation from a vecto

Question

Is there a way to calculate mean and standard deviation for a vector containing samples using Boost?

Or do I have to create an accumulator and feed the vector into it?

Answer 1

I don't know if Boost has more specific functions, but you can do it with the standard library.

Given std::vector<double> v, this is the naive way:

#include <numeric>

double sum = std::accumulate(v.begin(), v.end(), 0.0);
double mean = sum / v.size();

double sq_sum = std::inner_product(v.begin(), v.end(), v.begin(), 0.0);
double stdev = std::sqrt(sq_sum / v.size() - mean * mean);

This is susceptible to overflow or underflow for huge or tiny values. A slightly better way to calculate the standard deviation is:

double sum = std::accumulate(v.begin(), v.end(), 0.0);
double mean = sum / v.size();

std::vector<double> diff(v.size());
std::transform(v.begin(), v.end(), diff.begin(),
               std::bind2nd(std::minus<double>(), mean));
double sq_sum = std::inner_product(diff.begin(), diff.end(), diff.begin(), 0.0);
double stdev = std::sqrt(sq_sum / v.size());

UPDATE for C++11:

The call to std::transform can be written using a lambda function instead of std::minus and std::bind2nd(now deprecated):

std::transform(v.begin(), v.end(), diff.begin(), [mean](double x) { return x - mean; });

Answer 2

//means deviation in c++

/A deviation that is a difference between an observed value and the true value of a quantity of interest (such as a population mean) is an error and a deviation that is the difference between the observed value and an estimate of the true value (such an estimate may be a sample mean) is a residual. These concepts are applicable for data at the interval and ratio levels of measurement./

#include <iostream>
#include <conio.h>
using namespace std;

/* run this program using the console pauser or add your own getch,     system("pause") or input loop */

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
int i,cnt;
cout<<"please inter count:\t";
cin>>cnt;
float *num=new float [cnt];
float   *s=new float [cnt];
float sum=0,ave,M,M_D;

for(i=0;i<cnt;i++)
{
    cin>>num[i];
    sum+=num[i];    
}
ave=sum/cnt;
for(i=0;i<cnt;i++)
{
s[i]=ave-num[i];    
if(s[i]<0)
{
s[i]=s[i]*(-1); 
}
cout<<"\n|ave - number| = "<<s[i];  
M+=s[i];    
}
M_D=M/cnt;
cout<<"\n\n Average:             "<<ave;
cout<<"\n M.D(Mean Deviation): "<<M_D;
getch();
return 0;

}

Answer 3

My answer is similar as Josh Greifer but generalised to sample covariance. Sample variance is just sample covariance but with the two inputs identical. This includes Bessel's correlation.

    template <class Iter> typename Iter::value_type cov(const Iter &x, const Iter &y)
    {
        double sum_x = std::accumulate(std::begin(x), std::end(x), 0.0);
        double sum_y = std::accumulate(std::begin(y), std::end(y), 0.0);

        double mx =  sum_x / x.size();
        double my =  sum_y / y.size();

        double accum = 0.0;

        for (auto i = 0; i < x.size(); i++)
        {
            accum += (x.at(i) - mx) * (y.at(i) - my);
        }

        return accum / (x.size() - 1);
    }

Answer 4

2x faster than the versions before mentioned - mostly because transform() and inner_product() loops are joined. Sorry about my shortcut/typedefs/macro: Flo = float. CR const ref. VFlo - vector. Tested in VS2010

#define fe(EL, CONTAINER)   for each (auto EL in CONTAINER)  //VS2010
Flo stdDev(VFlo CR crVec) {
    SZ  n = crVec.size();               if (n < 2) return 0.0f;
    Flo fSqSum = 0.0f, fSum = 0.0f;
    fe(f, crVec) fSqSum += f * f;       // EDIT: was Cit(VFlo, crVec) {
    fe(f, crVec) fSum   += f;
    Flo fSumSq      = fSum * fSum;
    Flo fSumSqDivN  = fSumSq / n;
    Flo fSubSqSum   = fSqSum - fSumSqDivN;
    Flo fPreSqrt    = fSubSqSum / (n - 1);
    return sqrt(fPreSqrt);
}

Answer 5

Improving on the answer by musiphil, you can write a standard deviation function without the temporary vector diff, just using a single inner_product call with the C++11 lambda capabilities:

double stddev(std::vector<double> const & func)
{
    double mean = std::accumulate(func.begin(), func.end(), 0.0) / func.size();
    double sq_sum = std::inner_product(func.begin(), func.end(), func.begin(), 0.0,
        [](double const & x, double const & y) { return x + y; },
        [mean](double const & x, double const & y) { return (x - mean)*(y - mean); });
    return sq_sum / ( func.size() - 1 );
}

I suspect doing the subtraction multiple times is cheaper than using up additional intermediate storage, and I think it is more readable, but I haven't tested the performance yet.

Answer 6

Using accumulators is the way to compute means and standard deviations in Boost.

accumulator_set<double, stats<tag::variance> > acc;
for_each(a_vec.begin(), a_vec.end(), bind<void>(ref(acc), _1));

cout << mean(acc) << endl;
cout << sqrt(variance(acc)) << endl;