AVEDEV - Microsoft Office Excel

Returns the average of the absolute deviations of data points from their mean. AVEDEV is a measure of the variability in a data set.

Syntax

AVEDEV(number1,number2,...)

Number1, number2, ... are 1 to 255 arguments for which you want the average of the absolute deviations. You can also use a single array or a reference to an array instead of arguments separated by commas.

Remarks

AVEDEV is influenced by the unit of measurement in the input data.
Arguments must either be numbers or be names, arrays, or references that contain numbers.
Logical values and text representations of numbers that you type directly into the list of arguments are counted.
If an array or reference argument contains text, logical values, or empty cells, those values are ignored; however, cells with the value zero are included.
The equation for average deviation is:

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

How to copy an example

Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
Select the example in the Help topic.
Note Do not select the row or column headers.
Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Formulas tab, in the Formula Auditing group, click the Show Formulas button.

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Formula	Description (Result)
=AVEDEV(A2:A8)	Average of the absolute deviations of the numbers above from their mean (1.020408)

How to copy an example

See also: