Apple iWork Numbers Function Reference

VARA

Description

The VARA function calculates the sample (unbiased) variance of a set of values, including text and Boolean values. Text values and the Boolean value FALSE are included as if they are the number 0, logical TRUE as a 1.

Syntax

VARA(value, [value, . . .])

value: One or more numeric or Boolean values or references to cells containing numeric, textual, or Boolean values.

Notes:

The VARA function divides the sum of the squares of the deviations of the data points by one less than the number of values to find the sample, or unbiased, variance (as opposed to the population, or true, variance). This is appropriate if the data points are only a sample of a larger data set. If the specified numbers make up the entire data set, you should use the VARP function to find the population (true) variance.
For a data set containing only numbers, VARA returns the same result as VAR.