Excel Data Analysis for Dummies

So here’s a funny deal: You know how to use Excel. You know how to create simple workbooks. And how to print stuff. And you can even, with just a little bit of fiddling, create cool-looking charts. But sometimes you wish that you could do more with Excel, such as how to use Excel to really gain insights into information, the data, that you work with in your job.

Using Excel for this kind of stuff is what Excel Data Analysis For Dummies is all about. This is a book that assumes that you want to use Excel to learn new stuff, discover new secrets, and gain new insights into the information you’re already working with in Excel.

Ready to take Excel to the next level? This plain-English guide covers all of these concepts, and more, to ensure that you’re using Excel to its fullest capacity:

• Harnessing information in lists
• Querying external databases and Web pages tables
• Cleaning data with text functions
• Building and working with PivotTables
• Customizing PivotCharts
• Using the statistics functions
• Understanding Optimization Modeling

If all this talk of statistics and advanced tools makes you light-headed, don’t worry. Excel Data Analysis For Dummies distills the most important fundamentals into everyday language. You’ll find just enough information to help you get your work done – without leaving you gasping for air in a sea of technobabble. It’d be a real shame if you didn’t at least know what bells and whistles Excel has to offer and the basic steps that you need to use them.

Stephen L. Nelson (Redmond, WA) writes about business application software and using technology in business. Nelson, the author of Quicken For Dummies, QuickBooks For Dummies, and more than 100 other titles is an M.B.A. and C.P.A. A Wall Street Journal article called Nelson "The Louis L' Amour of computer book writers."