Now that you have learned about the basics of formulas, learned how to perform some

basic calculations, and how to select ranges and copy formulas, next we will have
an introduction to functions, including using some common
statistical functions. And then we will learn about some more advanced functions
that a Data Analyst might also use. First, let’s look at some common functions used
for statistical calculations. So, we’ll add some row headings for average,
minimum, maximum, count, and median. Then in cell B20, let’s work out the average
of the car sales for the year, from the table above. On the Home tab, in the
Editing group, we
click the AutoSum drop-down list and choose Average. Now, because AutoSum tries to
add up the values
directly above it in the column, we need to modify the cell range here to B2 to
B13. Then we can use the Fill Handle as we’ve
seen before to copy the formula across to column E. For the minimum calculation in
B21, we select Min from the AutoSum list. And again, we need to modify the cell
range. So this calculates the lowest value in our
range. And fill across to column E.
And for the maximum calculation, we select Max from the list. And then modify the
range. And once again, copy the formula across. This calculates the highest value
in our range. In B23 we will calculate the Count, which
basically just means the number of values that exist in the selected range. So, we
select Count Numbers from the list. Then modify the range. For the median
calculation, we can select
‘More Functions’ from the AutoSum list,then select ‘Statistical’ as the category,
and scroll down to find the MEDIAN function. The ‘median’ returns the exact middle
of a range of selected values. Note that if you’re selecting an odd number
of values it will return the figure that is the middle value in your selected
range, but if you have selected an even number of values in your range, it will
return the middle figure between the two middle values in your range. Once again,
we need to change the cell range to B2 to B13. And we can then copy this formula
across to column E. You’ve seen AutoSum and some of the common
statistical functions in Excel, but there are another 400-plus other functions
available,
so let’s explore just a few of those now. On the Formulas tab, in the Function
Library group, there are drop-down lists for several function categories. The first
is a list of ‘Recently Used’
functions, which updates automatically as you use them. Then you have functions
related to ‘Financial’ calculations. If you hover over the name of a function,
you see a short description for each one; so here we have the accrued interest
function,
and here is the interest rate function. The ‘Logical’ list has BOOLEAN operator
functions such as AND, IF, and OR. There are several functions related to Text,
such as CONCAT, which is an updated version of a previous function called
CONCATENATE
(which is still supported by the way for backwards compatibility), FIND, and
SEARCH. There are also several functions related to
dates and times, such as NETWORKDAYS, WEEKDAY, and WEEKNUM. In the ‘Lookup &
Reference’ list there
are functions such as AREAS, HLOOKUP, SORTBY, and VLOOKUP. In the ‘Math & Trig’
list you’ll find
lots of useful mathematical functions, such as POWER, SUMIF, and SUMPRODUCT,
alongside many functions for trigonometric purposes, such as cosine, sine and
tangent. There is also a ‘More Functions’ list
which provides several more function categories, such as Statistical, Engineering,
and Information. In the ‘Statistical’ list you’ll find
functions such as Average, Count, Max, Median, and Min; we saw some of these used
earlier in this video. If you’re struggling to find the function
you want in these lists, you can also search for a function; just click the ‘Insert
Function’ button on the Formulas tab, and then either browse the category lists
available, or choose
‘All’ and look down the alphabetical list for the function you want. Alternatively,
type the name of a function
you want to find, and click ‘Go’ to search for it, then select the one you want
from
the returned search. In this video, we learned about the basics
of functions, how to use some of the more common functions that a Data Analyst
might employ, and looked at some of the more advanced functions available in Excel.
In the next video, we will look at referencing data in formulas; specifically
differentiating between relative and absolute references,
and error handling in formulas.