D1 - Discuss methods of how organisations can use interpretation methods to analyse data.
Interpretation
Comparisons of Totals
To compare totals, you must first calculate them.
The SUM function will add the values in consecutive cells of a row or column.
The SUMIF function could be used to include in the total only those values that meet some criteria.
You can then see which is the highest total and which is the lowest total.
The MAX function returns the maximum value in a range of cells.
The MIN function returns the minimum function.
You could work out the difference between the highest and lowest values, which might give a measure of range.
The formula =MAX(A1:A10)-MIN(A1:A10) will return the range (difference between the lowest and highest values).
Trend Analysis
Some variables change over time and it helps to see what the trend is. It's not important whether the values go up and down on a day-to-day basis. What's the trend (say) over a week, over a month or over the years?
The easiest way of illustrating a trend is to turn the data into a chart or graph and the most appropriate is a line graph, with the variable on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis.
Comparisons of Totals
To compare totals, you must first calculate them.
The SUM function will add the values in consecutive cells of a row or column.
The SUMIF function could be used to include in the total only those values that meet some criteria.
You can then see which is the highest total and which is the lowest total.
The MAX function returns the maximum value in a range of cells.
The MIN function returns the minimum function.
You could work out the difference between the highest and lowest values, which might give a measure of range.
The formula =MAX(A1:A10)-MIN(A1:A10) will return the range (difference between the lowest and highest values).
Trend Analysis
Some variables change over time and it helps to see what the trend is. It's not important whether the values go up and down on a day-to-day basis. What's the trend (say) over a week, over a month or over the years?
The easiest way of illustrating a trend is to turn the data into a chart or graph and the most appropriate is a line graph, with the variable on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis.