Skip to content
Google Sheets

DVAR function in Google Sheets

Returns the variance of a population sample selected from a database table-like array or range using a SQL-like query.

=DVAR(database, field, criteria)

DVAR syntax and parameters

Three arguments, three required.

  • databasearrayRequired

    The array or range containing the data to consider, structured in such a way that the first row contains the labels for each column's values.

  • fieldanyRequired

    Indicates which column in database contains the values to be extracted and operated on. field may either be a text label corresponding to a column header in the first row of database or a numeric index indicating which column to consider, where the first column has the value 1.

  • criteriaarrayRequired

    An array or range containing zero or more criteria to filter the database values by before operating.

DVAR examples

Formulas you'll actually reuse.

  1. Sample variance of West order amounts:

    =DVAR(A1:E200, "Amount", G1:G2)
  2. Its square root equals DSTDEV — variance and deviation agree:

    =SQRT(DVAR(A1:E200, 4, G1:H2))

DVAR in Excel

Same name — your formula ports as-is.

Try DVAR in the playground

Edit the example — nothing to install.

Preloaded with the DVAR formula from Example 1 — change anything and watch it respond.

Loading the editor…