INTRODUCTION
I used to think excel is a boring spreadsheet full of rows and columns only used by accountants and nobody cared about it.Everything changed the moment i jumped into data analytics.I came to realize that excel really is a spreadsheet software developed by microsoft that allows you to make calculations and analyse data.It is also the most powerful tool in data analytics.Excel is used in almost every indusrty you can think of.
Real world used cases of excel
1.education institutions
Excel is used to monitor the trend in performance of students in schools by calculating their score,the mean mark and highlighting the top performance.
2.Business
Excel is used by most companies and firms to track down their sales,profits and losses.It can also show their product's performance in various tables and charts.
3.Healthcare
Health institutions use excel to monitor their patients and keep their track record.It can also calculate the number of patients and medicines distributed within the health facility.
4.E-Commerce
A major example is like Jumia.It uses excel to calculate discount distributed among different products and the most sold products.
Key formulas in excel
Excel is being run by diffrent formulas.
1.IF statement.
One of the most effective formula is the IF statement.This gives a specific command.For example:
=IF(A2<30,"young","old")
This statement tells us that in the cell A2,if its less than30,then it should be classified as young and the rest should be old.
2.sum statement
The sum statement adds up the highlighted column.For example:
=SUM(A2:A20)
This command summs up the values in the second row upto the twentieth row.
3.vlookup
Vlookup searches for a value in one column and returns a matching value from another column:=vlookup(A2,product table,2,false)
This formula searches for the value in cell A2 in the first column of the table and returns the corresponding value from the second column.
Data cleaning
Before analysing data,you ought to clean for easier analysing.One of the major ways of cleaning is by removing duplicates.You can also replace some values by simply pressing ctrl+H.This shortcut allows you to find a value and replace it.Another common formular is the Trim
This special command eliminates unnecessary spaces before,after and between words inside the cells.Example:
=TRIM(A2)
It eliminates unnecessary spaces in the cell A2.
Sorting and Conditional formating.
Sorting allows you to arrange the selected column either by ascending or descending order whereas conditial formating allows you to change the color of the highlighted cell depending on what you want to highlight.It make it easier for you to scan and spot large data instead of going through every rows.
Data visualization
Excel goes beyond calculations and writing formulas.
1.Pivot tables.
Pivot tables in excel summarises data in seconds without writing formulas and making calculations simply by dragging and dropping the columns you want to analyse.
2.Charts and Graphs
Excel allows you to present your data in form of graphs and charts for easy understanding.You can also use a pie chart to show how various parts makes a whole.
conclusion
At first, I underestimated Excel, but learning it has completely changed how I see data. It’s now one of the first tools I would recommend to anyone starting in data analytics .
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