Description
Use this function to calculate the quartiles of a data set, which divide the data into four equal parts, including the minimum and maximum values in the calculation.
Quartiles are useful in identifying outliers and understanding the distribution of your data. QUARTILE.INC returns the quartile of a data set, based on percentile values from 0 to 1, inclusive.
Syntax
QUARTILE.INC(array, quart)
Inputs
This function accepts the following arguments:
| Name | Required | Description | Valid input |
|---|---|---|---|
array |
Yes | The array or range of numeric data for which you want to calculate the quartile. | An array of numbers or a reference to a range of cells containing numbers. Up to 8,191 values can be provided. |
quart |
Yes | Indicates which quartile value to return. | An integer from 0 to 4: 0 = Minimum value 1 = First quartile (25th percentile) 2 = Median (50th percentile) 3 = Third quartile (75th percentile) 4 = Maximum value |
Example
Sample data
| A |
|---|
| Values |
| 1 |
| 2 |
| 3 |
| 4 |
| 5 |
| 6 |
| 7 |
| 8 |
| 9 |
| 10 |
Sample formulas
| Formula | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
=QUARTILE.INC(A2:A11, 1) |
Returns the first quartile (25th percentile) of the data set | 2.75 |
=QUARTILE.INC(A2:A11, 2) |
Returns the median (50th percentile) of the data set | 5.5 |
=QUARTILE.INC(A2:A11, 3) |
Returns the third quartile (75th percentile) of the data set | 8.25 |
Notes
- QUARTILE.INC functionally operates the same as QUARTILE, using linear interpolation to calculate quartile values that fall between data points.
- QUARTILE.INC uses (n-1) intervals for n data points, and includes the smallest and greatest values in the dataset when calculating quartiles.
- Use QUARTILE.EXC if you want to exclude the 0 and 1 percentile values.
- The first quartile (Q1) is the 25th percentile, the second quartile (Q2 or median) is the 50th percentile, and the third quartile (Q3) is the 75th percentile.
- If
arrayis empty or contains more than 8,191 data points, QUARTILE.INC returns a #NUM! error. - For accurate results, the data set should contain numeric values only.
- Empty cells and text values are not included in the calculations.
- Unlike Excel, logical values are ignored in the quartile calculations.
- If any cell in the data set contains an error value (#N/A, #VALUE!, #DIV/0!, etc.), the function will return an error.
- If
quartisn't an integer, it is truncated. - If
quart< 0 orquart> 4, QUARTILE returns a #NUM! error. - For smaller datasets, QUARTILE.INC can give slightly different results than QUARTILE.EXC.
Tips
- Use QUARTILE.INC to divide your data into quartiles for better data analysis and interpretation.
- You can combine QUARTILE.INC with other statistical functions such as MEDIAN and PERCENTILE.INC for more comprehensive data analysis.
Related functions
AVERAGE
AVERAGEA
AVERAGEIF
AVERAGEIFS
LARGE
MAX
MAXA
MAXIFS
MEDIAN
MIN
MINA
MINIFS
PERCENTILE
PERCENTILE.EXC
PERCENTILE.INC
QUARTILE
QUARTILE.EXC
QUARTILE.INC
RANK
RANK.AVG
RANK.EQ
SMALL
STDEV
STDEV.P
STDEV.S
STDEVA
STDEVPA