What is Excel
According to Wikipedia:
Microsoft Excel, or simply Excel, is a spreadsheet editor developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and iPadOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).
In simpler terms, Excel forms part of the Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Office suites of software and has been developed since 1985. It organizes data in columns/rows and allows you to do mathematical functions.
How is Excel used in real-world data analysis
From the definitions above, it is safe to say that the core roles of Excel are:
- Data Recording/Storage
- Data Analysis/Manipulation
- Data Visualization/Presentation
The image below is a visual representation of an Excel Spreadsheet.
Lets explore these roles.
Data Recording/Storage: Excel has a main spreadsheet format which holds data in worksheets, charts, and macros. This allows supply of data to others for calculation and display.
Data Analysis/Manipulation: Excel comes with functions that allow a person to format or calculate data. It can edit and format text in cells, calculate formulas, search within the spreadsheet, sort rows and columns, freeze panes, filter the columns, add comments, and create charts among many others.
Data Visualization/Presentation: Excel comes with features that allow the data to be saved in the form of a table, graph, pie chart etc. which makes analyzing/visualizing the information much easier. Thus making it more readable and understandable.
Excel features or formulas
I will start with the basics and list these in no particular order of importance/functional hierarchy.
- Autofill - It automatically populates cells with data or helps create a sequence.
- Text Wrap - It makes overflowing content fit within a cell by expanding the cell vertically.
- Find and Replace -It is used to quickly locate, edit and update data across the worksheet.
- Data Validation - It is used to restrict cell inputs, prevent typos, and ensure users enter clean, standardized data.
- Custom sort - It is used to sort data in a specific sequence (like months, sizes or priority levels) rather than alphabetically.
- Conditional formatting - It is used to automatically change the color, font or border of a cell based on its value.
- Functions - These are pre-built formulas designed to automate calculations and data analysis.
Now that we have seen some of the magic that excel can work on data, lets move on to something else. Within excel, of course!
My personal reflection:
How has learning Excel changed the way I see data?
I now see data not just as numbers on a spreadsheet but as a world of information, manipulatable to answer questions and tell narratives.
From a single excel spreadsheet, I have learnt that it is possible to extrapolate and/or interpolate a myriad of information and accurately project outcomes.
See how I am already using big words? That is the confidence I have acquired from my lessons in Data Science and Analytics so far.
Some of the direct benefits of using excel I have learnt so far include:
*Numeric precision *- its inbuilt features when correctly used allow consistent, error-free operations across massive data bases.
*Complex Formula Integrity *- Formulas correctly interpret massive data, preventing errors across multiple worksheets.
*Easy Data recovery *- If the information is written on a piece of paper, finding it may take longer, however, this is not the case with excel spreadsheets. Finding and recovering data is easy.
There you have it, an incentive to get acquainted with the excel world. Cheers!
Top comments (1)
Good effort. The article has a personal tone, especially in the reflection section, but use practical class examples.
Please also correct the Markdown formatting because the asterisks are showing in sections like
*Numeric precision *,*Complex Formula Integrity *, and*Easy Data recovery *. Format them properly as bold text or remove the asterisks before publishing.