Microsoft KB Archive/95544

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

Excel: VAR Must Have More Than One Argument
Last reviewed: September 12, 1996

Article ID: Q95544

The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 3.0, 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0
 * Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 3.0, 4.0, 5.0

SUMMARY
&quot;Online Help&quot; in version 5.0 and page 445 of the version 4.0 &quot;Microsoft Excel Function Reference,&quot; state that 1 to 30 arguments can be used with the VAR function. This information is incorrect, 2 to 30 arguments must be specified for the VAR function.

MORE INFORMATION
The VAR function returns an estimate for the variance of a population based on a sample given as arguments. If you use the VAR function with only one argument you will receive a #DIV/0! error value.

The formula for an estimate for the variance of a population used by the VAR function in Excel is described on page 445 of the version 4.0 &quot;Microsoft Excel Function Reference.&quot; Based on this formula, the #DIV/0 error is not a problem with Microsoft Excel.

This same documentation error occurs on pages 243 of the version 3.0, &quot;Microsoft Excel Function Reference.&quot;