SLOPE

See Also

Returns the slope of the linear regression line through data points in known_y's and known_x's. The slope is the vertical distance divided by the horizontal distance between any two points on the line, which is the rate of change along the regression line.

Syntax

SLOPE(known_y's,known_x's)

Known_y's is an array or cell range of numeric dependent data points.

Known_x's is the set of independent data points.

Remarks

The arguments must be either numbers or names, arrays, or references that contain numbers.
If an array or reference argument contains text, logical values, or empty cells, those values are ignored; however, cells with the value zero are included.
If known_y's and known_x's are empty or have a different number of data points, SLOPE returns the #N/A error value.
The equation for the slope of the regression line is:

where x and y are the sample means AVERAGE(known_x’s) and AVERAGE(known_y’s).

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

Show How?

Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
Select the example in the Help topic. Do not select the row or column headers.

Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Tools menu, point to Formula Auditing, and then click Formula Auditing Mode.

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A	B
Known y	Known x
2	6
3	5
9	11
1	7
8	5
7	4
5	4
Formula	Description (Result)
=SLOPE(A2:A8,B2:B8)	Slope of the linear regression line through the data points above (0.305556)