QUARTILE in Calligra Sheets: Find Quartiles and a Five-Number Summary

=QUARTILE(data; flag)

Both arguments are required. Data is a numeric range or scalar. There is no omitted flag default.

The first and third quartiles use ranks 0.25×(n−1) and 0.75×(n−1), with zero-based indexing and linear interpolation. Minimum and maximum use separate direct endpoint branches; they do not use PERCENTILE’s unsafe next-element access identified in the inspected implementation.

Enter 10, 20, 40, 80 in B2:B5 and label B1 Duration (minutes).

1. Enter flags 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 in D2:D6.
2. In E2 enter =QUARTILE($B$2:$B$5;D2) and fill down to E6.
3. Expected results are 10, 17.5, 30, 50, 80 minutes.
4. The dollar signs keep the source range fixed while the flag reference advances.
5. Check the first quartile manually: rank 0.75 is three-quarters of the way from 10 to 20, yielding 17.5.
6. Check the third quartile: rank 2.25 is one-quarter of the way from 40 to 80, yielding 50.

The median 30 is the average of the middle pair 20 and 40, not an observed 30-minute delivery.

The interquartile range is Q3−Q1, here 50−17.5 = 32.5 minutes. Using the filled table, enter =E5-E3 to calculate it.

A common exploratory screening rule places fences at Q1−1.5×IQR and Q3+1.5×IQR. For this sample they are −31.25 and 98.75 minutes. None of the four observations is outside those fences. The negative lower fence is a statistical construction, not a plausible negative delivery time.

These fences are a screening convention, not an automatic deletion rule or evidence that every in-fence observation is correct. With only four observations, quartiles and fences are unstable. Investigate context and data quality before labeling records as outliers.

The shared helper converts each data item to a floating-point value. A range containing [10, text, 30, blank] is source-predicted to become [10, 0, 30, 0], whose median and flag-2 quartile are 5. Text and missing entries are not safely assumed to be ignored. Put headings outside the selected range and define a missing-data policy.

The flag is converted to an integer. A positive fractional flag such as 1.9 becomes 1, so it selects the first quartile rather than causing a strict invalid-integer error. Use the exact documented integer flags deliberately; a mistyped flag should not silently change the intended statistic.

A converted flag below 0 or above 4 returns an internal value error; 5 is a safe test of this path. One numeric data item is returned for any valid flag. The source has a no-values error branch, but a selected blank cell can be converted to zero rather than behaving like a truly empty input list.

KDE MEDIAN targets the middle statistic. KDE PERCENTILE permits other fractional positions, with the endpoint caution documented separately. QUARTILE flag 4 uses a direct maximum branch and is not evidence that a PERCENTILE alpha-1 call is safe. Check both interpolation and coercion conventions before comparing results across spreadsheet products.

Checked October 18, 2026. Original introduction date is unknown. QUARTILE is registered in both inspected source versions, Calligra 25.04.2 and 26.08.2. Their relevant statistical-function, calculation-engine and converter source files are byte-identical. Version inspection establishes availability in those releases, not a first-introduction date or a runtime guarantee for every platform.

Primary sources: KDE QUARTILE handbook, 26.08.2 implementation, 25.04.2 statistical functions, and numeric converter. Mathematical values above are independent calculations. Native observations below were obtained in Calligra Sheets 25.04.2 on Linux, October 18, 2026; no native 26.08.2 execution is claimed. The handbook is a living reference and can differ from the pinned implementation at the explicitly described boundaries.

The following formula results were obtained in the actual application and checked in its completed native-saved workbook. The screenshot is an unmodified application capture. The values in this table are native results; the earlier reference values and model calculations remain separately identified. Small final-digit differences do not make the independent reference a native observation.

Native J2:J5 contains 10, 20, 40, 80. K2:K5 contains 10, literal text text, 30, and a genuinely blank cell. These coordinates differ from the illustrative worksheet layout above.

The completed saved values, including error text, determine this table; display rounding can show fewer digits. These tests do not establish all locales, input types, extreme numerical ranges or cross-application import behavior.