VAR.S Function in Excel: Variance of a Sample

VAR.S Function in Excel: Variance of a Sample featured illustration

📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓

⏱ 2 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

StatisticsLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2010+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. VAR.S in practice
  5. Where you will use it
  6. Worked example
  7. Mistakes people make
  8. Related functions
  9. Continue learning

VAR.S is the square of STDEV.S. You rarely report it directly, but it turns up in forecasting, portfolio risk and quality-control formulas.

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Syntax

=VAR.S(number1, [number2], ...)
Argument What it means
number1… Sample values.

Examples

Example 1

=VAR.S(C2:C60)

Variance of daily returns.

VAR.S in practice

Where you will use it

  • Variance from a sample
  • Statistical tests
  • Quality data

Worked example

Rows usedFormulaResult
3=ROUND(VAR.S(INDEX({120,135,128,160,95,140,132},SEQUENCE(A2))),3)56.333
5=ROUND(VAR.S(INDEX({120,135,128,160,95,140,132},SEQUENCE(A3))),3)556.3
7=ROUND(VAR.S(INDEX({120,135,128,160,95,140,132},SEQUENCE(A4))),3)393

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
One value#DIV/0!
PopulationUse VAR.P

STDEV.S · STDEV.P

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📎 Practice files for this article

  • 📗
    Practice workbook: Statistics advanced33 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
    ⬇ XLSX · 36 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

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