Excel INTERCEPT Function

The Excel INTERCEPT function returns the point at which a regression line will intersect the y-axis by based on known x and y values.
- known_ys - An array or range of numeric data points (dependent values).
- known_xs - An array or range of numeric data points (independent values).
The INTERCEPT function returns the point at which a line will intersect the y-axis by based on known x and y values. The intercept point is based on a regression line plotted with known x and y values. A regression line is a line that best fits that known data points.
Use the INTERCEPT function to calculate the value of a dependent variable when the independent variable is zero (0).
Example
In the example shown, the formula in E5 is:
=INTERCEPT(C5:C9,B5:B9) // returns 2
This formula returns 2, based on known_ys in C5:C9, and known_xs in B5:B9.
Equation
The equation for the intercept of the regression line (a) is:
where b is the slope. The formula used by Excel to calculate slope is the same one used by the SLOPE function:
In the example shown, the intercept formula can be manually created like this:
This formula returns the same result as that returned by the INTERCEPT function.
Notes
- If there is only one set of points, INTERCEPT will return #DIV/0!
- If the count of known ys is different from known_xs, INTERCEPT returns #N/A
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