VARP (Calculates variance based on the entire population for Statistical Purpose)

What Does It Do?

This function calculates the variance of a list of values.

The variance is calculated on the basis that the values represent the entire population.

Syntax

=VARP(Range1,Range2,Range3 through to Range30)

Formatting

No special formatting is needed.

Example:

The table below was used by a company interested in buying a new machine to pack washing powder.

A trial run a just four boxes per machine were produced.

The boxes were weighed and the =VARP() function used as these boxes represented the entire test run.

The machine with the smallest variance was the most consistent.

Explanation of formula:

This finds the lowest value.                                =(MIN(H4:H6))

This finds the position of the lowest value.         =MATCH(MIN(H4:H6),H4:H6,0)

This looks down the Machine column to             =INDEX(C4:C6,MATCH(MIN(H4:H6),H4:H6,0))

find the machine name.