Yes.
Variance is confusing because it varies linearly with number of wagers of
the same size, but varies according to a square law if you change the
size of each wager.
If you have a game where a single unit wager gives a variance of
V (units squared), the variance follows the following two rules:
1) If you make a single wager of N units, the overall variance is V*N^2
(units squared).
2) If you make N independent wagers of the same size, then the overall
variance for the group of N wagers is N*V (units squared)
Combining these rules gives:
3) If you take a single unit and divide it into N wagers that are each 1/N
units, then each small wager has a variance of (V/N^2) to give an overall
variance of N*V/N^2 = V/N (units squared).
You can view an N-play machine as either increasing variance or
decreasing variance, depending on what kind of machine you compare
with the N-play machine. An N-play is more or less the same as playing
five independent machines at the same time. Some comparisons:
A) If you normally play a 1-unit denomination single play machine, and
you "step up" to a 5-unit denomination single play, rule 1 says this
increases your variance by a factor of 25.
B) If you normally play a 1-unit denomination single play machine, and
you "step up" to a 1-unit 5-play machine, rule 2 says this increases your
variance by a factor of 5.
C) If you normally play a 5-unit denomination single play machine, and
you "step down" to a 1-unit 5-play machine, rule 3 says this decreases
your variance by a factor of 5.
So, whether you view a 5-play as increasing or decreasing variance
depends on whether you view it as playing fives times as "fast" or
as busting up your normal bet into 5 independent pieces that get played
simultaneously.
···
On Monday 29 August 2005 11:32 am, bornloser1537 wrote:
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "vpFREE" <vpFREE@C...> wrote:
> On 28 Aug 2005 at 22:23, bedioyscans2000 wrote:
> > What's the normal JOB variance for single play,
>
> 19.5
>
> > triple pay, five play etc.
>
> Higher than SL.
>
> See the "Jazbo's Analysis of N-Play VP" link on the above url.
This simplistic answer is not correct (I think).
My understanding is that if you look at it one way, the multi-line game has
a HIGHER vaiance; if you look at it another way it has LOWER variance.
Am I correct in my thinking this?