Excel Chapter 3A of 24: The Calculator

The most simple yet very useful analytical tool in Excel is the Calculator.

Here is a tip that 75% of Excel users ignore and that you will be using daily from now on.

Select two or more  cells with numbers in them and take a look at the bottom of your screen, you will see . It is the sum of the selected cells. If you right click on , you will see this:

you can select this functionality to show the sum, the count, the average.... or nothing at all. If you chose to count non-empty cells select any cells (numerical or not) and the result appears at the bottom of your screen.

When will you use this tip?

- You will first use the calculator to validate certain totals in a report   before issuing it. You make sure that formulas work correctly.

- You can rapidly calculate some significant totals in a set of data that doesn't show any totals. You can count the number of values or entries.

- You will also use the calculator to calculate some totals that do not exist in the report that you are looking at. For example you can calculate quarterly subtotals from a report showing only monthly numbers and " Year to Date" .

- When you discover the comparative analyses in lesson 2 you can look at a report and its  raw data on the same screen. The raw data can be in the same workbook, in a different workbook or even in a different program. Showing the data and the report on a split screen you can validate  the totals in the report using the calculator in both views.

- You can use the calculator to analyse the data dynamically and then decide that such analysis is worthy of a special automated report and create it. The calculator then becomes a report designing tool.

Next Chapter: Comparative Analysis with Excel