Archive for the ‘Data Analysis’ Category

You might think I'm crazy: How to count cars with Excel (VOL046)

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

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There is a wide range of music on my iPod: everything from classical to ’90s alternative. When I put the playlist on shuffle, anything goes. I might hear the soothing strains of Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” or the raucous refrain of Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping.” Um…everyone else has that on their iPods, right?

The other day, the song “Counting Blue Cars” by Dishwalla came on and I found myself singing along with the lyric: “We count only blue cars…”

Nerd that I am, I couldn’t help but immediately conjure up an Excel formula to help them out:

=COUNTIF(Cars, “blue”)

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Another Case of Formula Frenzy (VOL041)

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

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Welcome back to the podcast! This week’s edition: Another Case of Formula Frenzy.

It was a dry and brisk November evening when I got the call. Sitting at my desk with the blinds cracked just enough to allow the last rays of sunlight from the dying day to creep through, the ringing of the phone shattered the silence like a brick through a pane of glass. The dame was one-half shrill hysteria, two-thirds livid frustration, and just a splash of hopeless desperation. The recipe for a typical batch of Formula Frenzy. Combine and shake well; serve chilled and aggravated.

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Finding Your Perfect Match…by Using Excel Functions (VOL034)

Friday, September 25th, 2009

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Welcome back to the podcast! This week’s edition: “Finding Your Perfect Match…by Using Excel Functions”

Well, it happened again. I’m almost positive I put both socks into the dryer, but only one came out. Tell me: where do the lost socks of the world go when they disappear? The Island of Misfit Socks? An exclusive club for singles? Maybe they have their own dating website, and they all go online in the hopes that they’ll find their perfect match. (more…)

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Excel Hates Me! When 2+2 Isn't Always 4 (VOL029)

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

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Welcome back to the podcast!

This week’s edition…

“Excel hates me! When 2 + 2 isn’t always 4″

You know, one of the most frustrating (and often the most fascinating) part of using Microsoft Excel has to be just how helpful it tries to be.

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Ancient wisdom of the gods revealed! – Which Chart to Use? (VOL020)

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

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Charts are everywhere in daily life; from news commentary, to stocks, to web polls, right down to entertaining sites like www.graphjam.com.

Who really knows which one to use? We all understand the old phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but which picture (or, in this case, which chart) gets me closer to that thousand instead of 3?

Today we are going to cover some basic chart types and what picture they draw. So, like Prometheus giving fire back to man, I now give the knowledge of Redmond back to the masses.

The four most commonly used chart types are Column, Bar, Line, and Pie. These are not the only chart types, but they cover what most mere mortals like you and I can probably get the most out of. (more…)

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Analyzing Data with Pivot Tables or How to Identify Assets Like the CIA. (VOL014)

Friday, May 8th, 2009

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Organizing the layout of your data is critical when attempting to do analysis.

Acquiring the best data set possible can be a very elusive agent. When it comes to finding out what is needed to select the best assets, identify problems, or just to view the results of a campaign, I look at it from the approach of an intelligence agency.

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Counting Days Between Two Dates

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

Do you need to know how many days are between two dates? If you have to figure out how long before a payment is due, how long it takes to manufacture a product, how many days shipping took, or how long before a perishable product is out of date then this tip will help you.

Before you begin type in this data to a new spreadsheet:

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Dates in Excel – Easy as One, Two, Three

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

We would like to welcome Professor Addenhauer to these pages.  He can usually be found in the middle of a circle of students listening with bated breath as he explains a complicated mathematical concept.  He retired a few years ago, but missed the students so much he teaches a class or two every semester.  He carries his trusty slide rule everywhere and frequently amazes his audience with his quick answers to complicated equations.  We have persuaded him to give us a little of his time to tell you about important mathematical concepts.  Do not worry; he always explains in plain English.

Here is a recent letter from him on the topic of dates in Excel:

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You're only as old as you feel (VOL003)

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

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This week we will touch on some information about date calculations in Microsoft Excel and we will be featuring a letter received from one of our esteemed friends Professor Addenhauer describing how Microsoft was there even on day 1.

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