PlanMaker QUARTILE.EXC: Interior Quartiles and Endpoint Limits

• Introduced: Documented by the PlanMaker 2018 manual; the original introduction release and date are not established.
• Availability: Documented in PlanMaker 2026. This checked version is not a final supported-version endpoint.
• Scope: Current reference belongs to the PlanMaker 2026/NX manual family. FreeOffice and individual mobile-build availability are not established here.
• Checked: October 14, 2026, against the official QUARTILE.EXC reference and historical manual. Additional calculations are explicitly scoped models; no native PlanMaker test was performed.

=QUARTILE.EXC(Range, n)

The official reference requires a numeric range and selector n. It identifies 1 as the 25th percentile, 2 as the median and 3 as the 75th percentile.

The same page also lists 0 as the minimum and 4 as the maximum, and specifies #NUM! only for n<0 or n>4. That selector table appears beside its exclusive-percentile description, while the separate PERCENTILE.EXC entry requires a probability strictly between zero and one. The short pages do not explain how those endpoint descriptions fit together. The 2018 manual already contains the same 0/4 table.

Accordingly, this guide does not assert native results for selectors 0 or 4, or import an endpoint error rule from another program. Use the unambiguous interior examples below. Fractional-selector handling is also unverified.

Create VendorExclusiveQuartile. Enter 1 through 9 in A1:A9, without a header in that range. Put =QUARTILE.EXC(A1:A9,3) in C1 and =PERCENTILE.EXC(A1:A9,0.75) in C2. SoftMaker gives 7.5 for both.

Put =QUARTILE.INC(A1:A9,3) in C3 for the separately documented inclusive result 7. The 2018 and current references preserve this distinction. The note about Excel 2010 concerns Excel compatibility and does not establish when PlanMaker first introduced either name.

For the additional calculations below, use the exclusive position h=(N+1)k, with k=n/4 and N observations. At an interior fractional position j+d, interpolate as value j plus d times the gap to value j+1.

This reproduces the vendor’s 7.5 example. The short PlanMaker entry does not state its full algorithm or small-sample boundary handling, so the broader outputs are independently calculated model expectations. NIST’s percentile discussion describes this convention and others; its own boundary policy is not assumed to be PlanMaker’s.

Create QuartileComparison, using A1:H10. Put Hours in A1 and 5,8,9,12,14,18,20,30 in A2:A9. The values are sorted, and N is eight. Put Selector, Exclusive, Inclusive, Difference and Exclusive model position in C1:G1. Enter 1,2,3 in C2:C4.

• D2: =QUARTILE.EXC($A$2:$A$9,C2)
• E2: =QUARTILE.INC($A$2:$A$9,C2)
• F2: =D2-E2
• G2: =(COUNT($A$2:$A$9)+1)*C2/4

Fill D2:G2 through row 4.

Q1 is 8+0.25×(9−8)=8.25. Q3 is 18+0.75×(20−18)=19.5. Both median models give (12+14)/2=13; agreement at the median does not make the other quartiles interchangeable.

In D6 enter =D4-D2 for an exclusive-model interquartile range of 11.25 hours. In E6 enter =E4-E2 for an inclusive-model value of 9.75 hours. F6 =D6-E6 is 1.5 hours. State which convention you use when comparing reports.

Copy QuartileComparison to ShiftedHours. Add ten to every observation by replacing A2:A9 with 15,18,19,22,24,28,30,40. Leave selectors and formulas unchanged.

The exclusive model results become 18.25,23,29.5, and inclusive results become 18.75,23,28.5. Both sets of quartiles shift by ten. F2:F4 stays -0.5,0,1, and D6:E6 stays 11.25,9.75.

A constant added to every observation moves location without changing the gaps. It does not change a spread by ten, and it does not resolve the difference between percentile conventions. This is an arithmetic transformation check, not permission to alter recorded durations.

The interior model needs neighboring sorted observations. With just two observations, the first-quartile position would be 0.75 and the third-quartile position 2.25, outside the two observed positions. This arithmetic fact does not establish which error, clamping rule or other behavior PlanMaker uses there. Keep such cases separate from the eight-observation example.

Quartiles describe a sample distribution; they are not confidence bounds or guaranteed service limits. Text/Boolean inclusion, empty-only inputs, native precision and platform parity remain outside these checks.

Related guides: QUARTILE.INC, QUARTILE, PERCENTILE.EXC, COUNT and MEDIAN.