How Can Formulas Enhance an Excel Worksheet

Questions provided: Formulas can be useful when designing spreadsheets; sometimes, it’s necessary to manually compute certain factors or specify calculations based on relative cell references. For this discussion, research two or three Excel functions (“=SOMETHING”) that could be useful when applying statistics in an Excel worksheet.
What is the background and purpose of each formula?
How could each formula be useful for the hypothetical scenarios in this class or another statistical purpose in academic research?
Now respond to these post in one paragraph each:
Post 1
The average function of the formula =AVERAGE(A1:A20) returns the average of those numbers. This works with up to 255 numbers. Some of our data sets may have more numbers than that, and we may need to use a different program or run two data sets and average them together (Microsoft, 2023).
This formula, x ± CONFIDENCE.NORM is a range of population means. This relates to our statistical research because it gives us the confidence level discussed in this week's module. If the number is less than .05, there is a 95% significance value. This is a function we can use for our research (ACE, 2023; Microsoft, 2023)
We can use COUNTIF to determine how much of something is in the data set. We could determine how many A’s or B’s a person got on a test. We could evaluate data for males vs. females, etc. We could put in any data we wanted and find out the count of that variable or item(Microsoft, 2023).
Post 2
Excel is the spreadsheet program everyone uses to organize and analyze data and is a robust base for statistical analysis. Excel has many unique formulas that are fundamental in using statistics in academics and business decisions. Understanding these methods and using them correctly can help you get valuable information from raw data, come to conclusions, and make intelligent choices (Keller, 2016). In this situation, Excel and statistical methods are handy tools for researchers, analysts, and students. There are many different formulas for statistics that apply to Excel.
The PERCENTILE and MAX/MIN are the two formulas selected. The percentile formula has been used in statistics since the early 1800s. When an individual wants to find the percentile, the PERCENTILE formula is used (=PERCENTILE(range)) to help. This formula can help find the data that is in a certain percentile, like the 75 percentile; it helps figure out how well they did. This is commonly used with standardized testing. In class this would be useful to show where the majority of grades fall in the gradebook.
The second formula is the MAX and MIN formula (=MAX/=MIN (range)), which is good when measuring the range of scores. This formula has been around for years and used to be referred to as the DMAX ( D function) back in the 1900s with Excel 4.0. This can be useful in academic settings in terms of grade books and also in labs when working with huge amounts of data (Townsend, 2005). MAX and MIN can help find the highest and lowest recorded scores instead of having to search individually. It is faster and more effective.
Post 3
The AVERAGE() function calculates the arithmetic mean of a range of numbers. To use the AVERAGE() function, you provide a range of values as its argument, typically separated by commas or defined by a cell range. The function adds up all the numbers in the range and then divides the sum by the count of values in that range. The result is the average of the numbers. For example, if you have a range of numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8, and you use the formula =AVERAGE(2, 4, 6, 8), the function will add up all the numbers (2 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 20) and divide the sum by the count of values (4 in this case), resulting in an average of 5. The AVERAGE() function is useful for analyzing data sets, calculating averages, and obtaining a general understanding of the central tendency of a set of values. Thoughts?
Post 4
=AVERAGE
The average of a dataset is one of the most basic needs when assessing statistics. According to Microsoft Support (n.d.), the average is used to find the central tendency of data. Adding up all of the data points and then dividing by the number allows the user to start the process of assessing the data. This function pairs well with the median and mode as well. Some hypothetical uses of the AVERAGE function are ratings on Amazon products, grades in a class, or income of a specific population. Comparing averages of different datasets allows the users to glean information that could otherwise be meaningless.
=STDEV.P
According to Microsoft Support, this function's role is to calculate the standard deviation of a specific population. This helps break down how the data is spread out from the average. This is extremely useful in statistics as it gives even more evidence of how data is dispersed. Some real-world examples would be grades again, the spread of incomes in a given area, and estimated times for GPS expected times of arrival.