Probability studies that are carried out in samples, or in the total population, when it is necessary to know the dispersion that exists in the data with respect to the it is necessary to use the variance to understand the results.
Microsoft Excel has 4 functions that can be applied when studying these types of probabilities. You must bear in mind that, to use them you will have to know some previous concepts.
If you want to know everything about how to use variance in Excel and thus be able to determine the degree of dispersion of data with respect to the mean, continue reading this article.
What is variance and what is this value used for in statistics?
The statistical variance is the deviation that exists in each data of a dispersion with respect to its mean, which is measured squared. In other words, this means how far the data from a dispersion move in relation to its mean to determine if there is a large influence near or far from it.
Values are represented in units of measure squared. Therefore, many times it does not make much sense to study this probability variable without establishing a study on the square root of the variance, which is called the standard deviation and standard deviation.
To understand the variance it is necessary to know what the standard deviation is.. This statistical measure, whose value is equal to 1, measures the degree of dispersion of the data with respect to the mean. It must be taken into account that we are talking about mean and not average, since they are two different values when this deviation does not have its center at the 0.50 point.
What should we take into consideration when calculating statistical variance in Excel?
As we told you in the previous paragraphs, variance estimates values in squared units of measure. Therefore, in order to understand and interpret a concept of statistical probability, it is necessary to analyze the standard deviation in a context.
This means that, if you are analyzing the population of men between 35 and 45 years old, whose height is greater than 1.80 metersthe variance will return probability results in meters squared.
But the standard deviation, which is the square root of the variance, will have a measurement unit of meters, so this type of dispersion should be studied for a better analysis.
Learn step by step how to calculate variance in an Excel spreadsheet without errors
To calculate the variance you must follow these steps:
- Write the population data in a column. Then, in the next column, enter all the data related to each sample.
- go to the menu “Formulas”.
- Search the group “Function Library” and click on the tool “More features”.
- Click on “Statistics”.
- Find in function “VAR.P” and select it.
- Choose the range of data that is related to the sample and press “Enter”.
In case of have a sample and not the entire populationsince you work with sampling, you will have to use the formula “VAR.S” and follow the same steps that we have mentioned.
If you are working with true and false values in the total of the sample you will have to choose “STICK” as function. But if you have the total population data, the function you should use is “VARPA”. In both cases you will have to follow the steps that we have indicated with the formula “VAR.P”.
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