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The Excel DVAR 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 Dvar function calculates the sample variance 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 :
DVAR( 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 Dvar 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 Dvar function is used to find the sample variance of scores obtained in Science, by male children. The criteria are specified in cells G1 - H2 and the Dvar formula is shown in cell G3.
The above Dvar function calculates the sample variance of the values in cells E5, E8 & E11, and therefore returns the value 3.8%. Example 2In the example below, the Dvar function is used to find the sample variance for the Science scores obtained by students over 8 years of age.
The above Dvar function finds the sample variance of the values in cells E4, E10 & E13 and so returns the value 1.7%. 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 Dvar function can be found on the Microsoft Office website. |
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