KURT Function in Excel: How Heavy Are the Tails?

⏱ 1 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

StatisticsLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. Related functions

KURT measures whether data has more extreme values than a normal distribution (positive) or fewer (negative).

Syntax

=KURT(number1, [number2], ...)
Argument What it means
number1… At least four values.

Examples

Example 1

=KURT(C2:C253)

High kurtosis in daily returns warns of more big shocks than a bell curve predicts.

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