Replies

Try this.

For the scatter chart, you want to set the series of state populations as your X values and the corresponding electoral votes as the Y values.

“Trend” lines require regression analysis, which in my day was beyond the scope of 7th graders. However, with Excel, all you need are the SLOPE and INTERCEPT functions which compute the slope and y-intercept of the regression line. I added another series to the scatter chart which shows the “predicted” number of electoral votes based on the regression analysis results. I then right-clicked on this new series in the chart and chose “Format Data Series”. Under the “Patterns” tab, I set the Line to Automatic and the Marker to None.

Hope that helps.

Try this.

For the scatter chart, you want to set the series of state populations as your X values and the corresponding electoral votes as the Y values.

“Trend” lines require regression analysis, which in my day was beyond the scope of 7th graders. However, with Excel, all you need are the SLOPE and INTERCEPT functions which compute the slope and y-intercept of the regression line. I added another series to the scatter chart which shows the “predicted” number of electoral votes based on the regression analysis results. I then right-clicked on this new series in the chart and chose “Format Data Series”. Under the “Patterns” tab, I set the Line to Automatic and the Marker to None.

Hope that helps.

I use ctrl-home to get to cell A1. If you’re not in column A, ctrl-up arrow will eventually get you to row 1.

I use ctrl-home to get to cell A1. If you’re not in column A, ctrl-up arrow will eventually get you to row 1.

In Excel 97’s Analysis Toolpak, there’s a function called WORKDAY. If you put 4 into the second argument, I think you will get exactly what you need.

In Excel 97’s Analysis Toolpak, there’s a function called WORKDAY. If you put 4 into the second argument, I think you will get exactly what you need.

Convert numbers to text using the =TEXT(A1,”#”) function and sort in descending order.

Convert numbers to text using the =TEXT(A1,”#”) function and sort in descending order.

In Excel 97, you can right click on the chart and select Source Data. Select the “Series” tab and you can respecify your X and Y values.

In Excel 97, you can right click on the chart and select Source Data. Select the “Series” tab and you can respecify your X and Y values.

From Excel 97 Help:
To repeat the next character in the format to fill the column width, include an asterisk (*) in the number format. For example, type 0*- to include enough dashes after a number to fill the cell.

Try formatting as $* #.##. That’s an asterisk followed by a space.

From Excel 97 Help:
To repeat the next character in the format to fill the column width, include an asterisk (*) in the number format. For example, type 0*- to include enough dashes after a number to fill the cell.

Try formatting as $* #.##. That’s an asterisk followed by a space.

I’ve used Steve’s technique for years, even in cases where the normal VLOOKUP function would work fine. I don’t like VLOOKUP because it depends on moving over a fixed number of columns to find the value you want. If you insert a column into your table, you can screw up your VLOOKUP functions. The INDEX/MATCH technique will automatically adjust for inserted columns.

The same holds true for HLOOKUP.

I’ve used Steve’s technique for years, even in cases where the normal VLOOKUP function would work fine. I don’t like VLOOKUP because it depends on moving over a fixed number of columns to find the value you want. If you insert a column into your table, you can screw up your VLOOKUP functions. The INDEX/MATCH technique will automatically adjust for inserted columns.

The same holds true for HLOOKUP.

You could do =left(a1,search(“,”,a1)-1). This assumes there’s only 1 comma in each name. To get the first name, you could do =right(a1,len(a1)-search(“,”,a1))