Data Consolidation 101
March 22nd, 2005
An introduction to the data consolidation functionality that is built in to OOo Calc. This is a useful feature when merging similar data from different souces. Consider the example below. We have sales data for each month for different regions. The company has two products, widgets and <gadgets< b=""> Each product’s sales data is on a separate sheet.</gadgets<>
We can use the data consolidation functionality of OOo Calc to combine the two sets of data into a single Totals sheet.
The Totals sheet will have same layout as the Widgets and Gadgets sheets.
The Consolidate data dialog is invoked as shown below.
Any source or result data ranges that will be needed here must be first declared as a named range
The named source data ranges are added - one at a time. Next, the results location is added. Please note while the full ranges of the source data are displayed, only the origin cell of the results is shown. This is probably an OOo Calc bug.
You may also want to check the Link to Source Data checkbox to ensure that the results are updated automatically if the source data changes.
The end result. Note the hidden rows in the sheet - which contain copies of the source data.
Basic Functions: frequency
March 17th, 2005
The following tips will show how the FREQUENCY function can be used in conjunction with the charting capabilities of OpenOffice Calc to create frequency plots of data.
In the example below, our data is in B4:D20. We wish to plot the frequency of occurence of the numbers listed in B26:B31.
The corresponding frequency tabe C26:C31 is created with the array function
{=FREQUENCY(INT(B4:D20);B26:B30)}
For some reason (OOo Calc bug?), you need to specify B26:B30 rather than B26:B31 - but it seems to work as entered here.
Largest values in an array
March 9th, 2005
An array formula I came across that lists the largest N values of an array.
In the example below, D1:D5 contains the five largest values fromA1:A13
Posted in Function Tips | No
Advanced Functions: indirect
The INDIRECT function converts a string into a cell reference. With examples, I will show how useful this can be in certain applications.
First, let us look at how INDIRECT works with the help of a few examples.
D3:D6 is an array of numbers. The values in B3:B6 will be used in the different INDIRECT examples.
B10 =SUM(INDIRECT(B5)) This is equivalent to =SUM(D3:D6)
B12 =SUM(INDIRECT(”D”&B3&”:D”&B4)) A more elaborate example of assembling a string from different sources to be converted by INDIRECT to a range reference. B3 and B4 contain the start and end rows respectively of the array wewish to SUM
B14 =INDIRECT(ADDRESS(3;4;4)) The ADDRESS function also can be combined with INDIRECT. ADDRESS takes row and column numbers as arguments - converting them to a string - just whatINDIRECT needs.
B15 =SUM(INDIRECT(”Sheet”&B6&”.”&B5)) An indirect reference to another sheet in the same document.
The one major difference between OOo Calc and Excel with regard to the INDIRECT function is the handling of named ranges. Excel allows you to make an indirect reference to a named range. This is not the case with OOo Calc.
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