diff --git a/python/obitools3/commands/stats.pyx b/python/obitools3/commands/stats.pyx
index 7bae6bc..152e915 100755
--- a/python/obitools3/commands/stats.pyx
+++ b/python/obitools3/commands/stats.pyx
@@ -119,9 +119,12 @@ def mean(values, options):
 
 def variance(v):
     if len(v)==1: 
-        return 0 
+        return 0
     s = reduce(lambda x,y:(x[0]+y,x[1]+y**2),v,(0.,0.))
-    return s[1]/(len(v)-1) - s[0]**2/len(v)/(len(v)-1)
+    var = round(s[1]/(len(v)-1) - s[0]**2/len(v)/(len(v)-1), 5) # round to go around shady python rounding stuff when var is actually 0
+    if var == -0.0: # then fix -0 to +0 if was rounded to -0
+        var = 0.0
+    return var
 
 
 def varpop(values, options):