Correl function

The CORREL function returns the correlation coefficient of two cell ranges. Use the correlation coefficient to determine the relationship between two properties. For example, you can examine the relationship between a location's average temperature and the use of air conditioners.

Syntax

CORREL(array1, array2)

The CORREL function syntax has the following arguments:

• array1    Required. A range of cell values.

• array2    Required. A second range of cell values.

Remarks

• If an array or reference argument contains text, logical values, or empty cells, those values are ignored; however, cells with zero values are included.

• If array1 and array2 have a different number of data points, CORREL returns a #N/A error.

• If either array1 or array2 is empty, or if s (the standard deviation) of their values equals zero, CORREL returns a #DIV/0! error.

• As much as the correlation coefficient is closer to +1 or -1, it indicates positive (+1) or negative (-1) correlation between the arrays. Positive correlation means that if the values in one array are increasing, the values in the other array increase as well. A correlation coefficient that is closer to 0, indicates no or weak correlation.

• The equation for the correlation coefficient is:

  

  where 

  

  are the sample means AVERAGE(array1) and AVERAGE(array2).

Example

The following example returns the correlation coefficient of the two data sets in columns A and B.

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