Which Excel function is used to calculate the geometric mean?

The function used to calculate the geometric mean in Excel is the GEOMEAN function. This function is designed specifically for situations where data is multiplicative in nature and is appropriate when dealing with rates, ratios, or indices, which is often the case in financial analyses or when comparing different datasets with varying scales. The geometric mean is calculated by taking the product of the numbers in a dataset and then taking the nth root of that product, where n is the count of numbers. This function simplifies that process, allowing users to quickly compute the geometric mean without having to manually perform the calculations.

Other options listed do not provide the correct functionality for calculating the geometric mean. For example, the MEAN function does not exist in Excel, while the AVERAGE function calculates the arithmetic mean, which is not suitable when the geometric mean is required. Additionally, GMEMEANS is not a recognized function in Excel. Therefore, using GEOMEAN is the correct choice for accurately determining the geometric mean of a given data set.