CHISQDIST Function (LibreOffice Calc)

• Introduced: First LibreOffice release not established by the evidence cited here. The current function reference confirms the name but does not identify its first release.
• Supported in: LibreOffice 26.8.1.1; no final supported release established.
• Scope: Desktop Calc. Argument contracts and boundaries below refer to the cited release.
• Checked: October 14, 2026. Documentation/source and independent mathematics checked; LibreOffice Calc was not run for this guide.

CHISQDIST evaluates the chi-square distribution with the supplied degrees of freedom. Its default cumulative result is P(X≤x). Density mode describes the curve height at x; it is not the probability of one exact continuous outcome. Official reference.

For positive x and degrees of freedom k, the density is x^(k/2−1)×exp(−x/2)/(2^(k/2)×Γ(k/2)). The cumulative value integrates that density from zero to x. This is the gamma model with shape k/2 and scale 2, but the Calc chi-square function handles its integer parameter and endpoint convention explicitly.

=CHISQDIST(Number; Degrees_of_freedom [; Cumulative])

The first two arguments are required. Cumulative is optional: omission or TRUE selects the left-tail probability; FALSE selects density. The release evaluator accepts two or three arguments and floors degrees of freedom before requiring a value of at least 1.

Choose a positive integer degree count from the statistical problem instead of relying on flooring. The function cannot infer whether a goodness-of-fit test, a variance calculation or another model gives the appropriate count.

The table gives independently calculated values, rounded to twelve decimal places. Its zero and negative-x entries follow the explicit Calc boundary convention.

Put 6 in A2, 2 in B2 and 1 in C2. In D2 enter =CHISQDIST(A2;B2;C2). The expected value is 0.950212931632. Changing C2 to 0 gives density 0.024893534184, which must not be interpreted as the cumulative probability.

For a right-tail probability at the same positive statistic, =1-CHISQDIST(A2;B2;1) is approximately 0.049787068368. The complement is convenient at ordinary values; very small upper tails can lose precision when subtracting a value close to 1. A dedicated right-tail function is preferable for such calculations.

For k=2, the probability between 2 and 6 is =CHISQDIST(6;2;1)-CHISQDIST(2;2;1), approximately 0.318092372804. Subtract cumulative probabilities, not densities. Reversing the endpoints creates a negative difference rather than a meaningful interval probability.

The 95th percentile can be found with =CHISQINV(0.95;2), approximately 5.991464547108. Feeding its unrounded result into =CHISQDIST(CHISQINV(0.95;2);2;1) should recover approximately 0.95. The distribution and inverse must use the same degree count.

The CDF and density helpers both return zero for x≤0. In density mode that is a software convention: at k=2 the mathematical right-hand limit at zero is 0.5, and at k=1 the density diverges. Do not replace the documented endpoint result with that limit.

CHIDIST represents a right-tail probability; it is not an alternate spelling for CHISQDIST. The dotted CHISQ.DIST entry also has a distinct argument contract, including a required third argument and its own negative-input check. Invalid degrees of freedom and an ordinary zero probability are different outcomes. These cases do not establish extreme-tail accuracy or locale-specific coercion behavior.

• CHISQDIST documentation
• LibreOffice 26.8.1.1 evaluator and argument contract