DEVSQA Function (Calligra Sheets)

• Introduced: First release not established; the name is present in Calligra 2.4.0 source.
• Supported in: Calligra Sheets 26.08.2, with no retirement established.
• Scope: Desktop Sheets with the Statistical module. Examples use English semicolon-separated formulas.
• Checked: October 14, 2026. Selected formulas ran through the official 25.04.2 engine library. Source and independent mathematics were checked. This is engine evidence, with no GUI-cell or import verification; 26.08.2 was source-checked only.

DEVSQA sums squared deviations from the full-value arithmetic mean. It uses numeric text as a parsed number, TRUE as 1, FALSE as 0 and failed numeric text as 0 in the tested English context. It does not divide by the count and does not take a square root. Function-specific official reference.

=DEVSQA(value1[;value2;...])

Supply one or more values, arrays or ranges. This registered function is present even though the retained handbook has no dedicated DEVSQA entry. Implementation and registration are the function-specific authority here. Brackets indicate optional arguments and are not entered in the formula. Registration and implementation.

The engine and mathematical columns are separate. Results are rounded to twelve decimal places, or thirteen significant digits in scientific notation for very small or large values. This is a display choice, not an accuracy guarantee. Inline arrays in braces are formula values, not a workbook-import test. Their semicolons separate columns and vertical bars separate rows. Strings remain explicitly quoted, and booleans use TRUE()/FALSE().

For 1,2,3, the mean is 2 and the squared deviations are 1,0,1. =DEVSQA(1;2;3) returns 2. The units are squared original units. For values measured in metres, the result is in square metres.

For 1,2,text “9”, the parsed values have mean 4 and squared deviations 9,4,25, giving 38. Nonnumeric text “abc” instead contributes 0; 1,2,0 has mean 1 and squared deviations totaling 2. Preserve storage types when reproducing a calculation.

Let n be the included count and m the mean. DEVSQA is Σ(x−m)². For n>1, dividing by n−1 yields the full-value sample variance; dividing by n yields the population variance. For 1,2,3 these are 1 and 2/3.

Adding a common constant leaves squared deviations unchanged: the executed difference between DEVSQA(1;2;3) and DEVSQA(101;102;103) is zero. Multiplying every numeric observation by 2 multiplies the result by 4, giving 8 for 2,4,6. Text conversion must be completed before applying such identities.

The executed advanced check was:

=DEVSQA(1;2;3)-DEVSQA(101;102;103)

Its engine result was 0.

A singleton or constant list gives 0. An explicit empty string is counted and converted to zero; =DEVSQA(1;2;3;"") therefore gives 5. A zero-argument call gives #VALUE!, and an existing division error propagates. The array examples validate inline arrays only, not cell import or spreadsheet display.

• Function-specific implementation
• Versioned implementation reference
• Defaults helper
• Aggregation helper
• Average helper
• Deviations helper
• Conversion helper
• Array Parser helper

The statistical module and value-calculation helpers are byte-identical between the inspected 25.04.2 and 26.08.2 sources. That comparison supports the source discussion but does not establish later-version execution, GUI-cell behavior or other locales.

DEVSQ, VAR, VARP.