<P> In actuarial science, the CV is known as unitized risk . </P> <P> In Industrial Solids Processing, CV is particularly important to measure the degree of homogeneity of a powder mixture . Comparing the calculated CV to a specification will allow to define if a sufficient degree of mixing has been reached . </P> <P> CV measures are often used as quality controls for quantitative laboratory assays . While intra-assay and inter-assay CVs might be assumed to be calculated by simply averaging CV values across CV values for multiple samples within one assay or by averaging multiple inter-assay CV estimates, it has been suggested that these practices are incorrect and that a more complex computational process is required . It has also been noted that CV values are not an ideal index of the certainty of a measurement when the number of replicates varies across samples − in this case standard error in percent is suggested to be superior . If measurements do not have a natural zero point then the CV is not a valid measurement and alternative measures such as the intraclass correlation coefficient are recommended . </P> <P> The coefficient of variation fulfills the requirements for a measure of economic inequality . If x (with entries x) is a list of the values of an economic indicator (e.g. wealth), with x being the wealth of agent i, then the following requirements are met: </P>

Why is a smaller coefficient of variation better