Excel HARMEAN Function
Summary
The Excel HARMEAN function returns the harmonic mean for a set of numeric values. The harmonic mean is the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean of reciprocals. Harmonic mean can be used to calculate a mean that reduces the impact of outliers.
Purpose
Calculate harmonic mean
Return value
Calculated mean
Syntax
=HARMEAN (number1, [number2], ...)
Arguments
- number1 - First value or reference.
- number2 - [optional] Second value or reference.
Usage notes
The Excel HARMEAN function returns the harmonic mean for a set of numeric values. The harmonic mean is the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean of reciprocals. Harmonic mean can be used to calculate a mean that reduces the impact of outliers. The harmonic mean is always less than the geometric mean, which is always less than the arithmetic mean.
In the example shown, the formula in E7 is:
=HARMEAN(B5:B14)
The formulas in E5 and E6 are, respectively:
=AVERAGE(B5:B14) // arithmetic mean=GEOMEAN(B5:B14) // geometric mean
Notes
- Arguments can be numbers, names, arrays, or references that contain numbers.
- Empty cells, and cells that contain text or logical values are ignored.