Syntax
VAR(value1, [value2, ...])
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| value1 | Parameter of the VAR function. |
| [value2 | (Optional.) Parameter of the VAR function. |
| ...] | Parameter of the VAR function. |
Examples
Revenue variance
Formula
=VAR(B2:B13)
Returns the sample variance of 12 monthly revenue figures. If revenue is in dollars, the result is in dollars-squared.
Comparing variability
Formula
=VAR(A2:A100) / VAR(B2:B100)
The F-ratio — compares the variance of two groups. Values far from 1 suggest different levels of variability.
Variance of specific values
Formula
=VAR(85, 90, 78, 92, 88)
Returns 27.7 — the sample variance of five test scores.
Common Errors
#DIV/0!
Fewer than 2 numeric values provided. Sample variance requires at least 2 data points.
#VALUE!
Non-numeric direct arguments.
Tips
Variance = STDEV squared
VAR(data) always equals STDEV(data)^2. Standard deviation is usually easier to interpret since it is in the same units as the original data.
Sample vs. population
VAR uses n-1 for samples. For the entire population, use VAR.P (divides by n). The difference matters with small data sets.
Used in ANOVA and F-tests
Variance is the core metric in analysis of variance (ANOVA) and F-tests. These tests compare the variances of different groups to determine if their means are significantly different.
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