Difference between revisions of "Documentation/How Tos/Calc: SLOPE function"

Revision as of 09:15, 17 July 2018

SLOPE

Fits a straight line to data using linear regression and returns its slope.

Syntax:

SLOPE(yvalues; xvalues)

yvalues and xvalues are single row or column ranges specifying points in a set of data. yvalues and xvalues must be the same size.

SLOPE fits a straight line through these data points, using the linear regression method (least squares). It then returns the slope of that line.

The equation of a straight line may be given as y = a + bx. The linear regression method calculates:

and

.

b is the slope, returned by this function.

Advanced topic:

The parameters xvalues and yvalues are always evaluated as array formulas.

Example:

SLOPE(B2:B6; A2:A6)

where the x values in A2:A6 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the y values in B2:B6 are 2, 4, 6, 8, 11 returns 2.2. The equation of the straight line found is very nearly y = 2x - thus the slope is very nearly (but not quite) 2.

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