VARPA 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.

VARPA divides the full-value squared-deviation sum by n. Numeric text is parsed as a number, nonnumeric text becomes zero, and TRUE/FALSE become 1/0 in the tested English context. It is the population counterpart of the sample statistic VARA. Function-specific official reference.

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

Supply one or more values, arrays or ranges. One included observation is sufficient and gives zero variance. The source distinguishes actually empty values from strings, including an explicit empty string. 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 a complete population 1,2,3, =VARPA(1;2;3) gives 2/3 ≈ 0.666666666667. The sample variant VARA gives 1 for the same three numbers. Choose the denominator according to the stated statistical definition, rather than whichever result is preferred.

For 1,2,text “9”, squared deviations total 38 and population variance is 38/3≈12.666666666667. For 1,2,text “abc”, the list is 1,2,0 and the variance is 2/3.

For a converted population of n values, VARPA = Σ(x−mean)²/n. Squaring STDEVPA gives the same statistic within floating-point rounding. The executed difference =VARPA(1;2;3)-STDEVPA(1;2;3)^2 is very close to zero; the printed engine value retains any small residual.

Adding the same constant preserves variance and multiplying every numeric value by a scales it by a². For an equal-valued list, every squared deviation is zero. An explicit empty string changes the input population: VARPA(1;2;3;"") is 1.25 because it adds a counted zero.

The executed advanced check was:

=VARPA(1;2;3)-STDEVPA(1;2;3)^2

Its engine result was -2.818925648462E-18.

A singleton or a constant list gives zero. A zero-argument call gives #VALUE!; existing division errors propagate. A nonnumeric string is a counted zero here, so a zero result does not prove the original input was a valid numeric measurement.

• Function-specific implementation
• Versioned function help
• 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.

VARP, VAR, STDEVP.