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Statistical function

VAR.P

Returns the variance of a population.

Rarely usedDifficulty 1250 · ProficientUsage rank #292 of 520
Practice · 2 questions →

When to use it

Population variance, dividing by n.

The shape of it

Syntax
=VAR.P(number1, [number2], ...)

Worked examples

  • Eight values

    =VAR.P(2,4,4,4,5,5,7,9) → 4

    32 divided by 8.

  • Full population

    =VAR.P(A2:A51) → 0.7225

    Every store, so the population form is right.

  • Back to sd

    =SQRT(VAR.P(A2:A51)) → 0.85

    The population standard deviation.

Worth knowing

  • Use only when the data is the whole population.
  • STDEV.P is its square root.
  • Slightly smaller than VAR.S on the same data.

Where it goes wrong

  • Understates variance when applied to a sample.
  • Text and blanks are ignored.

Related

AVERAGECOUNTCOUNTACOUNTIFCOUNTIFSMAX

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