Syntax
DEVSQ(value1, [value2, ...])
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| value1 | Parameter of the DEVSQ function. |
| [value2 | (Optional.) Parameter of the DEVSQ function. |
| ...] | Parameter of the DEVSQ function. |
Examples
Sum of squared deviations
Formula
=DEVSQ(B2:B50)
Returns the total squared deviation from the mean for 49 values. This is the numerator in the variance formula.
Manual variance check
Formula
=DEVSQ(A1:A100) / (COUNT(A1:A100) - 1)
Manually calculates sample variance — should match VAR(A1:A100) exactly.
Total variation
Formula
=DEVSQ(C2:C1000)
Returns the total sum of squares (SST), a key component in R-squared and regression analysis.
Common Errors
#DIV/0!
No numeric values in the arguments (internally divides by count to compute mean).
#VALUE!
Non-numeric direct arguments.
Tips
Relationship to variance
DEVSQ / (n-1) = VAR.S and DEVSQ / n = VAR.P. DEVSQ gives you the raw numerator before dividing.
Used in regression
In linear regression, Total SS = DEVSQ(Y). Regression SS + Residual SS = Total SS. R-squared = Regression SS / Total SS.
Sensitive to outliers
Because deviations are squared, DEVSQ is heavily influenced by extreme values. A single outlier can dominate the sum.
Try DEVSQ in Viztab
Import your data and use DEVSQ with 370+ other formulas. No signup required.
Open Viztab