8 Pivot Tables and Data Summaries Free Online FlashCards

What is a pivot table?

A pivot table interactively groups records by selected fields and calculates summaries, such as totals or averages, without changing the source records.

What structure should source data have for a pivot table?

Give each column a unique, nonblank header; use one row per record and one column per variable; avoid blank rows, blank columns, and merged cells within the data.

What do Rows define in a pivot table?

Rows define the categories used to form groups; for example, placing Region in Rows groups records by region.

What do Sum, Count, and Average of Revenue each measure?

Sum of Revenue gives total revenue; Count gives the number of represented records; Average gives mean revenue per record. These answer different questions.

What are the regional and grand revenue totals in the example?

For the example data, East’s total is 320 and West’s total is 250; the grand total is 570.

How do “percent of grand total” and “percent of region total” differ?

A percentage of grand total uses all revenue as its denominator; a percentage of region total uses that region’s revenue. They answer different comparison questions.

How do filtering and sorting help explore a pivot table?

A filter limits the records included; sorting orders groups by labels or summarized values to help reveal the largest or smallest categories.

Why can averaging group averages mislead?

An average of group averages may not equal the overall average when groups contain different numbers of records. Use the underlying observations or a correctly weighted calculation.

What should you do when the pivot table’s source data changes?

Refresh the pivot table after source edits or additions, and update its source range if new rows fall outside the range.

Why keep each source column’s values consistent in type?

Keep values in each column consistent in type, such as dates in a date column, so the spreadsheet can identify fields and summarize them as intended.

What do Columns define in a pivot table?

Columns place categories across the top for comparison. Like Rows, they define groups; their position changes the summary’s layout.

What does the Values area specify?

Values specifies what calculation to perform for each group, such as the sum of Revenue.