On the computation of sample central moments
Huynh Ngoc Phien · International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology · 1988
The central moments of a random sample are often needed in many different applications. Although they can be conveniently computed by first calculating the moments about the origin and then applying the basic relationships between them and these moments, the results may be erroneous because of the truncation and rounding effects. A better way is to compute them by means of an updating procedure which is convenient, efficient and accurate. In this note, the needed formulae are provided and their use is illustrated.