To calculate variance in Excel, ... As you can see, the calculated variance value of .000018674 tells us little about the data set, by itself.

Values in multiple cells may be calculated in Excel. Getty Calculating data fluctuations-- also called variance -- is a multi-step process that requires total accuracy.

The example considers the values of the last three years (about 750 days of trading) and a formula in Excel, to calculate beta. BETA FORMULA = COVAR (D1: D749; E1: E749) / VAR (E1: E749) ...

We'll calculate the historical monthly variance of the S&P 500 Total Return Index over a five-year period from August 2010 through July 2015 -- that's 60 observations (5 years x 12 months). Here's ...