Statistical Functions in Microsoft Excel

As you read, review Table 1, which outlines the most common statistical functions in Microsoft Excel. You can apply these functions to a large set of data entered in a spreadsheet. The rest of this section details how to use each type of function in a budget spreadsheet.

Introduction

In addition to formulas, another way to conduct mathematical computations in Excel is through functions. Statistical functions apply a mathematical process to a group of cells in a worksheet. For example, the SUM function is used to add the values contained in a range of cells. A list of commonly used statistical functions is shown in Table 1. Functions are more efficient than formulas when you are applying a mathematical process to a group of cells.

If you use a formula to add the values in a range of cells, you would have to add each cell location to the formula one at a time. This can be very time-consuming if you have to add the values in a few hundred cell locations. However, when you use a function, you can highlight all the cells that contain values you wish to sum in just one step. This section demonstrates a variety of statistical functions that we will add to the Personal Budget workbook. In addition to demonstrating functions, this section also reviews percent of total calculations and the use of absolute references.

Function Output
ABS The absolute value of a number
AVERAGE The average or arithmetic mean for a group of numbers
COUNT The number of cell locations in a range that contain a numeric character
COUNTA The number of cell locations in a range that contain a text or numeric character
MAX The highest numeric value in a group of numbers
MEDIAN The middle number in a group of numbers (half the numbers in the group are higher than the median and half the numbers in the group are lower than the median)
MIN The lowest numeric value in a group of numbers
MODE The number that appears most frequently in a group of numbers
PRODUCT The result of multiplying all the values in a range of cell locations
SQRT The positive square root of a number
STDEV.S The standard deviation for a group of numbers based on a sample
SUM The total of all numeric values in a group


Table 1 Commonly Used Statistical Functions


Source: Noreen Brown, Barbara Lave, Julie Romey, Mary Schatz, and Diane Shingledecker, https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/beginningexcel/chapter/2-2-statistical-functions/
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