How can I find the uncertainty of slope in Excel, with an example?

Finding the uncertainty of slope in Excel is a useful tool for analyzing and interpreting data. It allows for a more accurate understanding of the relationship between variables and helps to determine the reliability of the results. To find the uncertainty of slope in Excel, one must first input the data into a scatter plot and then use the “Trendline” function to generate a line of best fit. From this line, the slope can be calculated and the uncertainty can be determined by using the “Analysis Toolpak” add-in. As an example, if we have a set of data points representing the relationship between height and weight, we can use Excel to find the uncertainty of the slope to determine how much the weight changes for every unit increase in height. This information can then be used to make informed decisions and draw accurate conclusions from the data.

Find Uncertainty of Slope in Excel (With Example)


You can use the LINEST function in Excel to find the uncertainty of the slope of a regression line.

The following example shows exactly how to do so.

Example: How to Find Uncertainty of Slope in Excel

Suppose we have the following dataset in Excel:

Suppose we would like to fit a linear regression model to this dataset and find the uncertainty of the slope of the regression line.

We can use the LINEST function to do so, which uses the following basic syntax:

LINEST(known_y's, known_x's, const, stats)

where:

  • known_y’s: A column of values for the response variable
  • known_x’s: One or more columns of values for the predictor variables
  • const: TRUE = calculate intercept normally, FALSE = force intercept to be zero
  • stats: TRUE = calculate additional regression statistics, FALSE = only calculate coefficients

We can type the following formula into cell D1 to fit a simple linear regression model to this dataset:

=LINEST(B2:B15, A2:A15, TRUE, TRUE)

The output from the LINEST function contains the coefficients of the regression model along with several additional statistics:

The following screenshot provides an explanation of each value in the output:

Excel find uncertainty of slope

From the output we can see:

  • The value for the slope is 0.693717.
  • The value for the uncertainty of the slope is 0.070978.

All of the other values in the output from the LINEST function provide us with additional information about the overall fit of the regression model.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in Excel:

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