Datasheet

The big question here, of course, is whether, with 9 different products but a
total count of 14 items, you’ll be able to go through the express checkout line.
But that information is irrelevant to our discussion. (You, however, might want
to acquire another book I’m planning, Grocery Shopping For Dummies.)
You aren’t limited, however, to simply calculating averages, counting
entries, and summing values in your list. You can also calculate other
statistical measures.
To perform some other statistical calculation of the selected range list,
right-click the status bar. When you do, Excel displays a pop-up Status Bar
Configuration menu. Near the bottom of that menu bar, Excel provides six sta-
tistical measures that you can add to or remove from the Status Bar: Average,
Count, Count Numerical, Maximum, Minimum, and Sum. In Table 1-1, I
describe each of these statistical measures briefly, but you can probably
guess what they do. Note that if a statistical measure is displayed on the
Status Bar, Excel places a check mark in front of the measure on the Status Bar
Confirmation menu. To remove the statistical measure, select the measure.
Table 1-1 Quick Statistical Measures Available on the Status Bar
Option What It Does
Count Tallies the cells that hold labels, values, or formulas. In other
words, use this statistical measure when you want to count
the number of cells that are not empty.
Count Numerical Tallies the number of cells in a selected range that hold
values or formulas.
Maximum Finds the largest value in the selected range.
Minimum Finds the smallest value in the selected range.
Sum Adds up the values in the selected range.
No kidding, these simple statistical measures are often all you need to gain
wonderful insights into data that you collect and store in an Excel table. By
using the example of a simple, artificial grocery list, the power of these quick
statistical measures doesn’t seem all that earthshaking. But with real data,
these measures often produce wonderful insights.
In my own work as a writer, for example, I first noticed the slowdown in the
computer book publishing industry that followed the dot.com meltdown
when the total number of books that one of the larger distributors sold —
information that appeared in an Excel table — began dropping. Sometimes,
18
Part I: Where’s the Beef?
05_045992 ch01.qxp 1/18/07 5:45 PM Page 18