HARMEAN

Returns the harmonic mean of a data set. The harmonic mean is the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean of reciprocals.

Syntax

HARMEAN(number1,number2, ...)

Number1,number2, ... are 1 to 30 arguments for which you want to calculate the mean. You can also use a single array or a reference to an array instead of arguments separated by commas.

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 any data point ≤ 0, HARMEAN returns the #NUM! error value.
The harmonic mean is always less than the geometric mean, which is always less than the arithmetic mean.
The equation for the harmonic mean is:

Example

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

How?

Create a blank spreadsheet.
Select the example in the Help topic.

Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In the spreadsheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
To switch between viewing the formula that returns the result and the result in the cell, select the cell and press F2 and then ENTER, or click Commands and Options on the spreadsheet toolbar, click the Formula tab, and look in the Formula in active cell (active cell) box.

Data
4
5
8
7
11
4
3
Formula	Description (Result)
=HARMEAN(A2:A8)	Harmonic mean of a data set above (5.028376)