Simple Histogram in VBA? - excel

Question

I have data stored in some column (Say, Column A). The length of Column A is not fixed (depends on previous steps in the code).
I need a histogram for the values in Column A, and have it in the same sheet. I need to take the values in column A, and automatically compute M Bins, then give the plot.
I looked online for a "simple" code, but all codes are really fancy, with tons of details that I don't need, to the extent that I am not even able to use it. (I am a VBA beginner.)
I found the following code that seems to do the job, but I am having trouble even calling the function. Besides, it only does computations but does not make the plot.
Sub Hist(M As Long, arr() As Single)
Dim i As Long, j As Long
Dim Length As Single
ReDim breaks(M) As Single
ReDim freq(M) As Single
For i = 1 To M
freq(i) = 0
Next i
Length = (arr(UBound(arr)) - arr(1)) / M
For i = 1 To M
breaks(i) = arr(1) + Length * i
Next i
For i = 1 To UBound(arr)
If (arr(i) <= breaks(1)) Then freq(1) = freq(1) + 1
If (arr(i) >= breaks(M - 1)) Then freq(M) = freq(M) + 1
For j = 2 To M - 1
If (arr(i) > breaks(j - 1) And arr(i) <= breaks(j)) Then freq(j) = freq(j) + 1
Next j
Next i
For i = 1 To M
Cells(i, 1) = breaks(i)
Cells(i, 2) = freq(i)
Next i
End Sub
And then I try to call it simply by:
Sub TestTrial()
Dim arr() As Variant
Dim M As Double
Dim N As Range
arr = Range("A1:A10").Value
M = 10
Hist(M, arr) ' This does not work. Gives me Error (= Expected)
End Sub

Answer 1

A little late but still I want to share my solution. I created a Histogram function which might be used as array formula in the excel spread sheet. Note: you must press
CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to enter the formula into your workbook. Input is the range of values and the number M of bins for the histogram. The output range must have M rows and two columns. One column for the bin value and one column for the bin frequency.
Option Explicit
Option Base 1
Public Function Histogram(arr As Range, M As Long) As Variant
On Error GoTo ErrHandler
Dim val() As Variant
val = arr.Value
Dim i As Long, j As Integer
Dim Length As Single
ReDim breaks(M) As Single
ReDim freq(M) As Integer
Dim min As Single
min = WorksheetFunction.min(val)
Dim max As Single
max = WorksheetFunction.max(val)
Length = (max - min) / M
For i = 1 To M
breaks(i) = min + Length * i
freq(i) = 0
Next i
For i = 1 To UBound(val)
If IsNumeric(val(i, 1)) And Not IsEmpty(val(i, 1)) Then
If val(i, 1) > breaks(M) Then
freq(M) = freq(M) + 1
Else
j = Int((val(i, 1) - min) / Length) + 1
freq(j) = freq(j) + 1
End If
End If
Next i
Dim res() As Variant
ReDim res(M, 2)
For i = 1 To M
res(i, 1) = breaks(i)
res(i, 2) = freq(i)
Next i
Histogram = res
ErrHandler:
'Debug.Print Err.Description
End Function

Answer 2

Not 100% sure as to the efficacy of that approach but;
Remove the parens as your calling a sub; Hist M, arr
M is declared as double but received by the function as a long; this won't work so declare it in the calling routine as long
You will need to recieve arr() As Variant
Range -> Array produces a 2 dimensional array so the elements are arr(1, 1) .. arr(n, 1)