Whether you were a stats lover (or a not-so-stats-lover) during school times, it is going to follow you everywhere.
Common symbols from stats include letters or sometimes characters combined with a bar or a hat.
Remember some symbols from that looked like below.
That’s what we call the P-hat symbol (notice the triangular hat above P). It is often used to represent the sample proportion.
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Just like P-hat, the symbol below is called the Y-hat symbol. It represents the predicted value of the dependent variable (y).
Similarly, stats would offer you a variety of such symbols with a hat on the top like p-hat, r-hat, and x-hat, etc.
Done with the caps – here is the X-bar symbol (with a bar on top of x). It represents the mean of a distribution.
Not only X-bar, but you’d see many other symbols like the Y-bar, m-bar, etc.
After we have revisited some of our statistical symbols, let us now see if you can insert these in Excel. Don’t go searching for your keypad already; you won’t find them there. However, you can still add them to your spreadsheet.
How? Let’s go straight into the tutorial below to learn that.
Insert a Bar Symbol In Excel
The bar symbol is represented by a bar ( __ ) on top of a letter. For example, an X-bar looks like a bar on top of the letter “x”.
Symbols with a bar on the top often represent the mean of a given data distribution (or averages). It is commonly used in statistics, and you’d need it in Excel for a variety of purposes. Like writing up statistical formulas, functions, or sometimes, signs.
As these symbols are not readily available on your keypad or in Excel, you’d have to follow a quick science to have them in your spreadsheet.
This section will teach us how to add a bar symbol on the top of a letter/character in Excel.
TIP!Some of the most commonly used bar symbols of Excel are produced below. If in a rush, simply copy them from here and paste them into your spreadsheet!
| x̄ | X̅ |
| y̅ | Y̅ |
| r̄ | R̄ |
| z̄ | Z̄ |
Need a longer-term solution? Continue reading to learn how you can insert these in Excel.
- Activate a cell in your spreadsheet and insert the character on top of which you need a bar inserted.
We will use the “x” letter in this example to achieve the x-bar symbol.
- Select the cell (where “x” is typed).
- Go to the Insert tab > Symbols.
- Against the Font, select Normal Text.
- Against the subset, select Combining Diacritical Marks.
- Find the top bar from the symbols and select it
TIP!Hard to find the bar symbol? Type in 0305 in the Character Code box below - the symbol dialog box will automatically select it for you.
- Hit Insert to have the symbol inserted in the selected cell. In the image below, the bar symbol is added on top of “x”.
That way, we have the X-bar symbol created in Excel.
What if you don’t need the x-bar but other symbols like the R-bar of the Y-bar? Just change the character in the cell before you perform the above steps.
Add a bar to the top of each letter following the same steps as above to create any bar symbol as below.
Doesn’t that make adding X-bar and other related symbols in Excel easy!
Insert a Hat Symbol in Excel
The Hat symbol looks like an up-headed triangle “^”. It is mostly used to represent an estimated or predicted value.
Y-hat represents the predicted value of the dependent variable in an equation. How do you achieve hat-based symbols in Excel?
The easiest and shortest way might be to copy and paste them from below simply.
| x̂ | X̂ |
| p̂ | P̂ |
| d̂ | D̂ |
| ŷ | Ŷ |
However, this method might not suit you the best if you need to insert hat-based symbols in your spreadsheets quite often.
To learn how you can add the hat symbol in Excel, follow these steps.
- Activate a cell in your spreadsheet and insert the character on top of which you need the hat symbol inserted.
Let’s just use the letter “y” for now to achieve a Y-hat.
- Select the cell (where “Y” is typed).
- Go to the Insert tab > Symbols.
- Against the Font, select Normal Text.
- Against the subset, select Combining Diacritical Marks.
- Find the hat symbol from the symbols and select it
TIP!Type in the character code 0302 in the Character Code box below if you cannot find the hat symbol otherwise.
- Hit Insert to have the symbol inserted in the selected cell.
In the image below, the hat symbol (^) is added on top of “y”.
And so, we have the Y-hat symbol ready in Excel.
Using the same steps as above, you can literally create any hat-based symbol like P-Hat, r-hat, x-hat, you name it.
Creating statistical symbols in Excel is not as difficult as it looks like it’d be, right?
Conclusion
The guide above summarizes different methods of how you can add the X-bar and Y-hat symbols in Excel. Using the same methods, you can create any kind of bar or hat-based symbols.
And why only bar or hat symbols? Following the steps above, you can add any symbol (with any character) in your spreadsheet. Practice adding these symbols a couple of times and soon you will be able to insert them with your eyes closed.
Continue learning and go on spreadsheeting seamlessly!
