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Excel / Formulas and functions / More functions / FREQUENCY function

FREQUENCY function
Applies To: Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Excel 2010, Excel 2007, Excel 2016 for Mac,

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

Description
Calculates how often values occur within a range of values, and then returns a
vertical array of numbers. For example, use FREQUENCY to count the number of
test scores that fall within ranges of scores. Because FREQUENCY returns an array,
it must be entered as an array formula.

Syntax
FREQUENCY(data_array, bins_array)

The FREQUENCY function syntax has the following arguments:

Data_array    Required. An array of or reference to a set of values for which you

want to count frequencies. If data_array contains no values, FREQUENCY returns
an array of zeros.

Bins_array    Required. An array of or reference to intervals into which you want

to group the values in data_array. If bins_array contains no values, FREQUENCY
returns the number of elements in data_array.

Remarks
FREQUENCY is entered as an array formula after you select a range of adjacent
cells into which you want the returned distribution to appear.

The number of elements in the returned array is one more than the number of
elements in bins_array. The extra element in the returned array returns the
count of any values above the highest interval. For example, when counting
three ranges of values (intervals) that are entered into three cells, be sure to
enter FREQUENCY into four cells for the results. The extra cell returns the
number of values in data_array that are greater than the third interval value.

FREQUENCY ignores blank cells and text.

Formulas that return arrays must be entered as array formulas.

Example
Copy the example data in the following table, and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel
worksheet. For formulas to show results, select them, press F2, and then press
Enter. If you need to, you can adjust the column widths to see all the data.
Scores Bins

79 70

85 79

78 89

85

50

81

95

88
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97

Formula Description Result

=FREQUENCY(A2:A10, B2:B4) Number of 1

scores less
than or
equal to 70
Scores Bins

Number of 2
scores in
the bin 71-
79

Number of 4
scores in
the bin 80-
89

Number of 2
scores
greater than
or equal to
90

Note: The formula in cell C12 is an array formula. For this

formula to return values in cells C12,C13,C14 and C15,
you must open this workbook in the Excel desktop
program (not the web browser). In Excel, select
C12,C13,C14 and C15, press F2, and then press
CTRL+Shift+Enter. Otherwise, only a value in cell C12 will
be returned.
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