Categorizing Data in Excel - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Microsoft Excel, commonly referred to as Excel is typically a full-featured spreadsheet software application that allows the user to adequately analyze an enormous amount of data by manipulating it in various distinct ways. The principal objective of this post is, however, to explain how Excel should handle or categorize certain types of data and highlight all the tools as well the specific format needed.

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How Telephone Numbers Should Be Categorized and Why

Excel mainly deals with numbers, but there are situations when the user needs to convert the numbers into text string to substantially output the numbers how it is required. For instance, working with figures that start with a zero in Excel like a telephone number can be overwhelming especially when the results give out a number without the leading zero. Therefore, telephone numbers should be categorized as texts in Excel and this is primarily achieved by using the Excel Text Function, which ensures that the telephone numbers are displayed in a more readable way or a specified format (Svetlana, 2018). The Excel text function takes the syntax; = Text (Value, format_text); where value denotes the numeric value while "format_text" represents a text string to be applied (Svetlana, 2018). For example, while displaying a 9-digit telephone number like (62)3456734, the TEXT function syntax will include parentheses and dashes in format codes such as (##) ### ### ### where the country code comes in the bracket and # the number of digits in the figure.

How the Social Security Number Should Be Identified in Excel and Why

The social security number (SSN) is a nine-digit numbering scheme that comprises of three parts separated by hyphens for example 555-50-1234. However, managing the social security numbers in a spreadsheet can at times be tricky but one of the easiest ways of handling social security numbers in Excel is by first importing the SSN as numeric numbers into excel without the dashes and then applying the Excel Left, Mid and Right Functions to automatically add in the hyphens in the appropriate positions (Blytheco.com, 2016). The primary reason of using this formula to display the social security number is because often while importing the data, the leading zeros may be lost, or in other instances, the user may be required to manually add or remove the hyphens thus forcing the user to take much precious time on handling one task (Blytheco.com, 2016). For example, assuming that the list of numbers is in column A, then the formula for identifying the social security numbers would be;

How Should Excel Categorize Date Like April 15, 2018? Why?

In Excel, the same date can be displayed in various ways by only changing the date format regarding the three data parameters that are d for the day, m for the month as well as y for the year. Furthermore, the date April 15, 2018, should always be categorized as a whole number in excel mainly because dates are whole numbers and often displayed in the format of dd/mm/yyyy (ExcelFunctions.net). The Excel text syntax can also be applied to categorize periods in a more readable way or mix dates or numbers with certain characters or text. For instance, to display the date April 15, 2018, from its original format 15/04/2018 in cell A2, the Excel text formula would be; =TEXT (A2, "mmmm d, yyyy") and the results would look similar to this;

Blytheco.com (2016). Working with Social Security Numbers in Excel. Retrieved from https://blog.blytheco.com/social-security-numbers-excel/

ExcelFunctions.net. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.excelfunctions.net/excel-text-function.html

Svetlana, C. (2018). Excel TEXT function with Formula examples. Retrieved from https://www.ablebits.com/office-addins-blog/2017/01/11/excel-text-function-formula-examples/#convert-to-phone-numbers