Question

Please discuss three features on Excel that one can learn that should help personal life or professional careers.

Answer 1

--> Three eatures on Excel that one can learn that should help personal life or professional careers are:

1) Pivot Tables

PivotTables summarise large amounts of Excel data from a database that is formatted where the first row contains headings and the other rows contain categories or values. The way the data is summarised is flexible but usually the Pivot Table will contain values summed over some or all of the categories.

If you’re new to creating PivotTables, Excel 2013 can analyze your data and recommend a PivotTable for you. Once you’re comfortable with PivotTables you can start from scratch and create your own.

To create a Pivot Table, make sure your data has column headings or table headers and that there are no blank rows. Click any cell in the range of cells or table.

INSERT > Tables > Recommended PivotTables

In the Recommended PivotTables dialogue box that launched, click any Pivot Table layout to get a preview then select the one that works best for you and click OK.

Excel will provide a selection of recommended PivotTables for your data. Excel then places the PivotTable on a new worksheet and shows the field list so that you can rearrange the data to best suit your needs. Again, make sure your data has column headings or table headers and no blank rows.

2) Sorting and Filtering

Excel spreadsheets help us make sense of large amounts of data. To make it easier to find what you need, you can reorder the data or pick out just the data you need, based on parameters you set within Excel. Sorting and filtering your data will save you time and make your spreadsheet more effective.

Suppose you have a list of hundreds of records including dates, ages, names, cities, and more. You can quickly organize the data to best suit your needs using Excel’s sort and filter features.

When you sort information in a worksheet, you can quickly organize the data and find values quickly. You can sort an entire worksheet or a range or table of data. Sorting can be done by one or more columns.

Let’s suppose you are a teacher and your class recently scored the following on a test:

You could sort on first name (alphabetically), second name (alphabetically) or by the test score (numerically). In any of these cases, you would want the entire row to move together, so Jane Smith doesn’t become Jane Mawer. Let’s say you want to sort by the test scores, highest to lowest.

3) Mixed Type Charts

Mixed type or combo (combination) charts combine two styles of charts, such as Excel’s column chart and line chart. This format can be helpful for displaying two different types of information or a range of values that varies greatly.

For example, we can use a column chart to show the number of homes sold between June and December and a line chart to make it easier to identify the average sale price by month. To create this chart, highlight all the data and select the Insert Combo Chart option in the Charts group of the INSERT ribbon tab: