The previous chapter introduced PivotTables. There we presented several examples to demonstrate the types of PivotTable summaries that you can generate from a set of data.
This chapter continues the discussion and explores the details of creating effective PivotTables. Creating a basic PivotTable is easy, and the examples in this chapter demonstrate additional PivotTable features that you may find helpful. We urge you to try these techniques with your own data. If you don't have suitable data, use the files available on this book's website.
Working with Non-numeric Data
Most PivotTables are created from numeric data, but PivotTables are also useful with some types of non-numeric data. Because you can't sum non-numbers, this technique involves counting.
Figure 30.1 shows a table and a PivotTable generated from the table. The table consists of a list of 400 employees, along with their location and gender. As you can see, the table has no numeric values, but you can create a useful PivotTable that counts the items rather than sums them. The PivotTable (in range E2:H10) cross-tabulates the Location field by the Gender field for the 400 employees, and it shows the count for each combination of location and gender.
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