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The Excel DSTDEV Function
Excel Database Functions
The Excel Database Functions are included to assist you when working with an Excel database. This typically takes the form of a large table of data, where each row in the table stores an individual record. Each column in the spreadsheet table stores a different field (or type of information) for each record. The database functions perform basic operations, such as count, max, min, etc, but they enable the user to specify criteria, so that the operation is performed on selected records only. Other records in the database are ignored. Basic DescriptionThe Excel Dstdev function calculates the sample standard deviation of a field (column) in a database for selected records only. The records to be included in the calculation are defined by a set of one or more user-specified criteria. The syntax of the function is :
DSTDEV( database, field, criteria )
where the arguments are shown in the table below:
Wildcards
You can also use the following wildcards in text-related criteria:
? - matches any single character
* - matches any sequence of characters if you do actually want to find the ? or * character, type the ~ symbol before this character in your search. eg. the condition "A*e" will match all cells containing a text string beginning with "A" and ending in "e". The criteria supplied beneath each field heading can be either:
Note that the Excel database functions are not case sensitive. So, for example, the criteria ="Name" will be satisfied by cells containing the text "Name" or "name". Excel Dstdev Function Examples
The following examples are based on the simple database on the right, which stores the examination marks scored by four children in three different subjects. Example 1In the example below, the Dstdev function is used to find the sample standard deviation of scores obtained in English, by male students. The criteria are specified in cells G1 - H2 and the Dstdev formula is shown in cell G3.
The above Dstdev function calculates the sample standard deviation of the values in cells E6, E9 & E12, and therefore returns the value 10.4%. Example 2In the example below, the Dstdev function is used to find the sample standard deviation for the Math scores obtained by students over 8 years of age.
The above Dstdev function finds the sample standard deviation of the values in cells E2, E8 & E11 and so returns the value 19.7% Note that, in the above two examples, instead of typing in "Score" for the field argument, we could have simply used the number 5 (to denote the 5th column of the database). Further examples of the Excel Dstdev function can be found on the Microsoft Office website. |
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