How do I check if a number of values are normally distributed?

I have a number of values, actually around 50 blood test results. Is there a function in Excel that can tell me whether or not these values are normally distributed? If these 50 blood test results are lined up in A2-A51, how do I formulate the function?



Thanks!

Plot a graph and see if it looks like a normal distribution?

It's not that simple an answer for excel, excel does have two functions Skew() and Kurt() which can guide you as to how "normal" your dataset is (closer they are to 0, more normal your dataset is, crudely). However, in 2003 you can only have 30 arguements but not sure if this is different in newer versions.

One method for testing how normally distributed a dataset is would be: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarque%E2%80%93Bera_test

You could also have a look at this youtube video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ye4b5TaPU

@RobertMika - I'm not sure the NORM functions will actually tell you whether a dataset is normally distributed? I thought they just give you the normal distribution for a specified set of a parameters? Could be wrong though, in 2003 I think I have NORMDIST and NORMINV, are there any others?

Yes but as I mentioned in post 2, not sure how useful they will be for OP as they are limited to 30 datapoints.