Excel Data Analysis For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Appendix

Glossary of Data Analysis and Excel Terms

3-D pie charts: Perhaps the very worst way to share the results of your data analysis — and often inexcusable.

absolute reference: A cell address used in a formula that Excel doesn’t adjust if you copy the formula to some new location. To create an absolute cell reference, you precede the column letter and row number with a dollar sign ($).

Access: A database program developed and sold by Microsoft. Use Access to build and work with large, sophisticated, relational databases; you can easily export information from Access databases to Excel. Just choose the Access Microsoft Office menu’s Export command.

arithmetic operators: The standard operators that you use in Excel formulas. To add numbers, use the addition (+) operator. To subtract numbers, use the subtraction (–) operator. To multiply numbers, use the multiplication (*) operator. To divide numbers, use the division (/) operator. You can also perform exponential operations by using the exponential operator (^). See operator precedence.

ascending order: A sorting option that alphabetizes labels and arranges values in smallest-value-to-largest-value order. See also chronological order; descending order.

ASCII text file: A type of text file that in essence is just straight text and nothing else. See also delimited text file; importing.

AutoFilter: An Excel tool (available from the Data tab’s Filter command) that helps you produce a new table that’s a subset of your original ...