In Google Sheets, the VARA function is used to calculate the sample variance of a range of values.

The function takes one required argument (value1) and an optional argument (value2, …), which represent the data points for which you want to calculate the variance.

Here's the syntax for the VARA function:

VARA(value1, [value2, …])

value1 is the first value or range of cells that you want to include in the variance calculation.

value2, … (optional) are additional values or ranges of cells that you want to include in the variance calculation.

The VARA function considers the given values as a sample from a population. If you want to calculate the population variance, you can use the VARP function instead.

Keep in mind that the VARA function ignores logical values, empty cells, text, and cells containing text representations of numbers when performing the calculation.

Here's an example to illustrate how to use the VARA function:

=VARA(A1:A5)

In this example, the VARA function calculates the sample variance for the range of cells A1 to A5.

Note: Google Sheets uses a different syntax (VAR.S) for the sample variance calculation.

The VARA function is an alternative syntax that can be used interchangeably with VAR.S. Both functions perform the same calculation.