Excel 2000 in a Nutshell

Chapter 15. Statistical Functions

Excel offers a wide range of statistical functions. Many of these are highly specialized, though some are useful for summarizing data and performing basic statistical tasks. There is a continuing debate over the accuracy of some of Excel’s statistical calculations, and with all the statistical software tools available, Excel may not be the best tool for professional statisticians.

The following are typical statistical tasks used for analysis:

Summarizing a single dataset

Options available for this are functions for calculating numbers describing the center of a dataset (e.g., mean, median, mode, trimmed mean, etc.) as well as numbers for describing the dispersion of a dataset (e.g., range, standard deviation, variance). There are slightly different formulas for the calculation of standard deviations and variances, depending on whether your dataset is a sample from a larger population or the whole population. (Usually, it is the former.) Other descriptive statistics, such as the smallest and largest values in a dataset, as well as percentiles, are also available.

Summarizing relationships between datasets

Options available for this are functions for calculating the strength and direction of linear relationships (the correlation coefficient) and for explaining the shape of a linear or nonlinear relationship (linear regression and logistic regression).

Calculating probabilities

For many statistical techniques, it is necessary to calculate probabilities. ...