Microsoft Excel: Using Formulas

Using this guide

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Contents
Organise your analysis ...................................................................................................................... 2
Sort Your Data .............................................................................................................................. 2
Summarise Your Data using the Filter ........................................................................................... 2
Calculating frequencies ..................................................................................................................... 3
Creating a named range ................................................................................................................ 3
Frequency tables ........................................................................................................................... 4
Calculating frequencies using COUNTIF ........................................................................................ 4
Calculating frequencies using more than one criteria (COUNTIFS) ................................................ 4
Calculating the average using AVERAGEIF(S) ............................................................................... 5
Creating a chart from your frequency tables ..................................................................................... 5
Introducing statistical functions ........................................................................................................ 6
Calculating Standard Deviation ..................................................................................................... 7
Further resources .............................................................................................................................. 8

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Organise your analysis
To keep things organised, you might find it easier to have three sheets in your Excel workbook, for
your data, tables and charts:

1. Click the new sheet button at the bottom of the screen

2. Double click the tab (or right click and choose rename) to enter a name for each sheet.

Sort Your Data

To sort alphabetical data in a list:

1. Click in the column to sort
2. Click on the Sort & Filter command in the Editing group and select either Sort A to Z to
sort in ascending order or Sort Z to A to sort the data in descending order

To sort a list numerically:

1. Click in the column to sort
2. Click on the Sort & Filter command in the Editing group and select either Sort Smallest to
Largest to sort in ascending order or Sort Largest to Smallest to sort the data in
descending order

To sort on more than one column:

1. Click on the Sort & Filter command in the Editing group on the Home tab and select
Custom Sort
2. Specify the columns to sort the list on

To sort a numbered list:

1. Click in the column to sort
2. Click on the Sort & Filter command in the Editing group and select Sort Smallest to
Largest to sort in ascending order

To sort by rows:
1. Click on the Sort & Filter command in the Editing group on the Home tab and select
Custom Sort and click on [Options]
2. Click on Sort left to right then click on [OK]
3. Choose the row to sort on and click [OK]

Summarise Your Data using the Filter

Format your data as a table

1. Click in the data
2. On the Home tab, select Format as Table and choose a table style
3. Ensure ‘My data has headers’ is checked
4. Click Ok

To apply a simple filter:

1. Click on a filter arrow and on Select All
2. Click on an option and click on [OK]

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To clear the filter:
1. Click on the filter arrow
2. Select Clear Filter From “fieldname”

To filter on multiple values:

1. Click on the filter arrow for the field
2. Click on Select All
3. Click on the checkboxes for each of the values that you want to filter on
4. Click on OK

Add totals to your filters

1. Click in your table
2. In the table tools tab, place a check next to Total Row
3. At the bottom of your table, click a cell in the new total row and select the drop down arrow
to choose the total you want e.g. SUM, COUNT.

Video – Sorting data

Video – Filtering data
Video – Creating and using tables

Calculating frequencies
Creating a named range
You can assign a descriptive name to a cell or range in Excel to help make formulas in your
worksheets much easier to create and understand:

1. Name all your columns or rows in a few quick steps

2. Select your entire spreadsheet
3. On the Formulas tab select Create from Selection
4. Choose Top Row (for all your column headings) or other option
5. Click OK

Naming individual cells or ranges

1. Select the cell or cell range that you want to name.
2. You also can select non-contiguous cells (press Ctrl as you select each cell or range).
3. On the Formulas tab, click Define Name in the Defined Names group.
4. The New Name dialog box appears.
5. Use the New Name dialog box to assign a name to the selected range.
6. In the Name text box, type up to a 255-character name for the range.
7. Range names are not case-sensitive; however, range names must follow these conventions:
 The first character must be a letter, an underscore, or a backslash.
 No spaces are allowed in a range name.
 The range name should not be the same as a cell address. For example, you can't name
a range U2 or UB40, but BLINK182 and ABBA are just fine.
8. Click OK.

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 Video – Enhancing readability with range names

Frequency tables
A frequency table is an essential visual summary of your data, particularly with larger data sets and
is the first step if you want to create a chart. If you already have your counts, creating the table is a
simple matter. Even if you don't, you can automate the counting by using one of the IF family of
functions, for example COUNTIF, COUNTIFS or AVERAGEIF.

On the tables sheet in your workbook, create your table and then populate with your counts, e.g

You can then create an appropriate chart to represent your table.

Calculating frequencies using COUNTIF

The COUNTIF function, one of Excel's COUNT functions, is used to count up the number of cells in a
selected range that meet specified criteria e.g. if you want to create a chart of how many
males/females responded to your survey.

1. Click an empty cell next to your data, or on a new sheet in the same workbook
2. Click on the Formulas tab
3. Choose Insert Function
4. Search and select COUNTIF
5. In the Range field, press F3 for a list
of your named ranges (e.g. column
headings such as Gender)
6. In Criteria, enter the relevant criteria e.g. female or male (or number if you have used
them). Note – the criteria must be typed as it is in your data (though it is not case sensitive)
7. Press Enter.

Calculating frequencies using more than one criteria (COUNTIFS)

The COUNTIFS function allows you to compare the results of one question with another e.g. how
many male respondents were aged under 18.

1. Click an empty cell next to your data

2. Click on the Formulas tab

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 3. Choose Insert Function
4. Search and select COUNTIFS
5. In the Criteria_Range1 field, press F3
for a list of your named ranges (e.g.
column headings such as Gender) and
select the relevant range
6. In Criteria1, enter the relevant criteria
e.g. male (or number if you have used
them)
7. In the Criteria_Range2 field, press F3 for a list of your named ranges and select your second
criteria e.g. age
8. In Criteria2, enter the relevant criteria e.g. under 18 or 18 – 25
a. Note – the criteria must be typed as it is in your data (though it is not case sensitive)

Calculating the average using AVERAGEIF(S)

Averageif(s) returns the average (or mean) of all the cells in a range that meet one or more given
criteria, for example what is the average number of times that under 18s shop online. Both
functions can be carried out in the same way as Countif(s) above.

Video – Using the COUNTIF family of functions

Video – Tabulating information with COUNTIF, SUMIF and AVERAGEIF
Video – Tabulating information with COUNTIFS, SUMIFS and
AVERAGEIFS

Creating a chart from your frequency tables

Using the ribbon
1. Select the data that you want to chart e.g. a frequency table you have created
2. Click the Insert tab, in the Charts group, select the chart type for the chart you want to
create, and then click the chart subtype.

Using keyboard shortcuts

1. Select your data
3. Press ALT+F1 to create the chart on the same sheet
4. Press F11 to create the chart on a new sheet

Using the Quick Analysis Tool

1. Select your data
2. Click the Quick Analysis Tool icon which has appeared below
your selection
3. Click Charts and select the required chart type

To create a chart of non-contiguous data

1. Select the first range of data
2. Press CTRL on your keyboard and select the rest of the data you require
3. Create your chart using your preferred method

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To change the default chart type
1. Click the chart
2. Under Chart Tools, on the Design tab select Change Chart Type
3. Select the Category and subtype of chart
4. Right click on the chart at the top of the display i.e. the
grey coloured chart
5. Select Set as Default

Move the chart to a new location

1. Click on the chart
2. Under Chart Tools, on the Design tab select Move Chart
3. Select whether you want to move the chart to a new
sheet, or to an existing sheet

To add or remove data in an existing chart

1. Click the chart to display the sizing handles around the
source data on the worksheet.
2. On the worksheet, do one of the following:
 To add new categories and data series to the chart, drag a blue sizing handle to include
the new data and labels in the rectangle.
 To add new data series only, drag a green sizing handle to include the new data and
labels in the rectangle.
 To add new categories and data points, drag a purple sizing handle to include the new
data and categories in the rectangle

To change the data in your chart using live filtering

1. Click your chart
2. Select the Chart Filter tool to the right of the chart
3. Select the series/categories you want to add or remove

Introducing statistical functions

Excel provides a large number of Statistical Functions, that perform calculations ranging from basic
mean, median & mode to the more complex statistical distribution and probability tests.

MIN returns the lowest value from a range of data

MAX returns the highest value from a range of data

AVERAGE returns the average (or mean) value in a range of data

MEDIAN returns the middle value in a range of data. Different to Average, Median calculates the
average of the two middle values and so extreme outlying numbers do not affect the result.

MODE returns the most frequently occurring number in a range of data.

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To use any of these functions:

1. Click where you want the result to appear

2. Select Insert Function
3. Search for the relevant function
4. In the Function Arguments window enter the range of data in the Number 1 field:

Calculating Standard Deviation

Standard Deviation calculates how dispersed your data is form the mean (how diverse your data set
is). A low standard deviation value means that most of the numbers are very close to the average. A
high standard deviation means that the numbers are spread out. Check the Understanding
Standard Deviation blog for a full explanation.

To calculate standard deviation in Excel

1. Click where you want the result to appear

2. Select Insert Function
3. Search for the standard deviation function (STDEV)
4. Enter the range of data in the Number 1 field.

Course – Statistics with Excel Part 1

Course – Statistics with Excel part 2

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Further resources
If you'd like to take your skills further with Excel, you can complete the following Lynda.com
courses:

Excel 2016 Essential Training

Excel 2016 Charts in Depth

Data Analysis Fundamentals This course covers further statistical analysis in Excel, such as
calculating Median, Mean, Standard Deviation, hypothesis and trendlines.

Once you've completed a lynda.com course, you'll receive a certificate of completion which you can
share with others or upload directly to your LinkedIn profile.

You can also complete a Microsoft Office Specialist Certification in Excel at both Core and Expert
level. These are completely free whilst you're a student at UCLan - you'll find more information on
our certifications web page.