How To Find The Slope Of A Line In Excel

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This article describes the formula syntax and usage of the Gradient function in Microsoft Excel.

Description

Returns the gradient of the linear regression line through data points in known_y's and known_x's. The slope is the vertical altitude divided by the horizontal altitude between any ii points on the line, which is the charge per unit of change along the regression line.

Syntax

SLOPE(known_y'due south, known_x'due south)

The SLOPE office syntax has the following arguments:

Known_y's Required. An array or cell range of numeric dependent data points.
Known_x'south Required. The fix 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; yet, cells with the value zilch are included.
If known_y'south and known_x's are empty or have a dissimilar number of data points, Gradient 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).
The underlying algorithm used in the Slope and INTERCEPT functions is different than the underlying algorithm used in the LINEST role. The difference between these algorithms can pb to different results when information is undetermined and collinear. For case, if the data points of the known_y'southward statement are 0 and the information points of the known_x'southward argument are 1:
- SLOPE and INTERCEPT return a #DIV/0! mistake. The SLOPE and INTERCEPT algorithm is designed to wait for one and merely 1 reply, and in this case there tin be more than one answer.
- LINEST returns a value of 0. The LINEST algorithm is designed to render reasonable results for collinear data, and in this case at least i answer can be plant.

Example

Re-create the case data in the following table, and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel worksheet. For formulas to prove results, select them, printing F2, and so printing Enter. If you lot need to, you can adapt the column widths to see all the data.

Data
Known y	Known 10
ane/ii/1900	6
1/3/1900	5
ane/nine/1900	eleven
one/1/1900	7
i/8/1900	v
i/7/1900	4
one/5/1900	4
Formula	Description	Result
=SLOPE(A3:A9,B3:B9)	Slope of the linear regression line through the information points in A3:A9 and B3:B9.	0.305556