Excel: Calculate variance and standard deviation
Variance and standard deviation can be calculated in Excel using two fixed Excel formulas. So you no longer have to insert the values into the formulas yourself. Using an example, we will show you how to proceed most effectively.
1. Create a table of values and calculate the mean
First, enter the values whose variance and standard deviation you want to calculate in Excel.
- In this example, five values are entered in cells A2 to E2.
- The mean value is calculated in cell F2 using the formula "= AVERAGE VALUE (A2: E2)".
2. Calculate standard deviation and variance
Excel also provides formulas for calculating variance and standard deviation.
- In our example, the standard deviation is calculated in cell G2 using the formula "= STDEV (A2: E2)".
- The STDEV function calculates the value if you have only entered a sample set of data. Based on a population of your data, it calculates the standard deviation using the formula "= STABWN (A2: E2).
- The variance is calculated in cell H2 using the formula "= VARIANCE (A2: E2)".
These instructions are based on Excel 2013. The formulas can be used in all versions. In another article we show how to calculate the median from your original list in Excel.