Hands on - Spreadsheets - Take a statistical shortcut. Make use of the built-in Analysis Toolpak to investigate a set of data the easy way.(Column)

Publication: Personal Computer World

Publication Date: 01-NOV-05

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COPYRIGHT 2005 VNU Business Media Europe

Every release of Excel since version 4 has included a shortcut that instantly uses 16 different functions to analyse a table of data. Here's an example to show you how to use it.

Imagine a cycle club. Every week for 12 weeks each member rides a set course and their times are recorded. It's not a competition - the riders are more interested in self-improvement. They want to analyse their results for their median time or their best and worst times, for example.

One way to calculate these results is by using formulas based on functions such as AVERAGE, MEDIAN, STDEVA, MAX, and SMALL or MIN. But a quicker way to get the answers can be found in the Analysis Toolpak. Choose Data Analysis on the Tools...

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