The variance of this estimator is equal to the "μμ"-element of the inverse Fisher information matrix formula_367. This implies that the estimator is finite-sample efficient. Of practical importance is the fact that the standard error of formula_362 is proportional to formula_369, that is, if one wishes to decrease the standard error by a factor of 10, one must increase the number of points in the sample by a factor of 100. This fact is widely used in determining sample sizes for opinion polls and the number of trials in Monte Carlo simulations.