SKEW

Description Computes the skewness of a set of numbers.

Syntax SKEW (number_list)

Argument Description

number_list A set of at least 3 numbers. This can be between 1 and 30 arguments consisting of numbers, cell references, range references, and/or array constants.All numeric values, including 0, are used. Text and logical values in array constants and cells referenced by this function are ignored. Text entered in the argument list will be evaluated as a number, if possible; otherwise it will cause a #VALUE! error. Logical values entered into the argument list are evaluated as numeric 1 if TRUE and numeric 0 if FALSE.

Argument	Description
number_list	A set of at least 3 numbers. This can be between 1 and 30 arguments consisting of numbers, cell references, range references, and/or array constants.All numeric values, including 0, are used. Text and logical values in array constants and cells referenced by this function are ignored. Text entered in the argument list will be evaluated as a number, if possible; otherwise it will cause a #VALUE! error. Logical values entered into the argument list are evaluated as numeric 1 if TRUE and numeric 0 if FALSE.

Remarks Skewness, also called the third movement, is a measure of the asymmetry of a distribution around its mean. A large positive skewness indicates that more of the distribution falls closer to the positive numbers on the x axis; a negative skewness indicates more of the distribution is closer to the negative numbers on the x axis.

Equation

Examples This function returns 0:

SKEW(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)

This function returns 0.148190368:

SKEW(1,1,1,3,4,5,6,7,8)

This function returns -0.245294714:

SKEW(-1,-1,-1,-1,-4,-5,-6,-7,-8)

See Also AVERAGE, AVEDEV, COUNT, DEVSQ, KURT