Excel Data Analysis For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 10

Descriptive Statistics

In This Chapter

Using the Descriptive Statistics tool

Creating a histogram

Ranking by percentile

Calculating moving averages

Using the Exponential Smoothing tool

Sampling a population

In this chapter, I describe and discuss the simple descriptive statistical data analysis tools that Excel supplies through the Data Analysis add-in. I also describe some of the really simple-to-use and easy-to-understand inferential statistical tools provided by the Data Analysis add-in — including the tools for calculating moving and exponential averages as well as the tools for generating random numbers and sampling.

Descriptive statistics simply summarizes large (sometimes overwhelming) data sets with a few, key calculated values. For example, when you say something ...