Excel VARPA function

Function              VARPA

Description        Excel VARPA function returns the Variance of a supplied set of values.

Syntax  VARPA(number1, [number2], …)

number1  First numerical value or reference in the set.

number2  [optional] Second numerical value or reference in the set.

Example:

=VARPA(12,22,34,18)=64.75

Average of these 4 numbers is 21.5

=((12-21.5)^2+(22-21.5)^2+(34-21.5)^2+(18-21.5)^2)/4=64.75

Usage Note:

The Variance is a statistical formula to measure which is commonly used for a set of values, to calculate the amount that the values vary from the average or mean.

The equation for this is:

where,

x refer to each value in the set;

x̄ is the average (statistical mean) of the set of values;

n is the number of values.

 

Excel VARPA function is very similar to Excel VARP function. But there are some difference among them

• Logical values within arrays are ignored by VARP function but it is counted (TRUE=1, FALSE=0) in VARPA function.
• Text within arrays and reference arguments are ignored by VARP function but it is counted 0 in VARPA function.
• If none of the values that have been supplied to the function are numeric then it returns #DIV/0! error.
• If any values that are given directly to the VARP function are text values, cannot be read as numbers and returns #VALUE! error.