Microsoft Excel Step by Step (Office 2021 and Microsoft 365)

8. Analyze alternative data sets

In this chapter

• Define and display alternative data sets

• Forecast data by using data tables

• Identify the input necessary to achieve a specific result

When you store data in an Excel workbook, you can use that data, either by itself or as part of a calculation, to discover important information about your organization.

The data in your worksheets is great for answering “what-if” questions, such as “How much money would we save if we reduced our labor to 20 percent of our total costs?” You can always save an alternative version of a workbook and create formulas that calculate the effects of your changes, but you can do the same thing in your existing workbooks by defining one or more alternative data sets. You ...