Lab 2: Excel Hint #1
To make a histogram-table using Excel on the Macintosh:
1. From the Tools menu, select "Data Analysis…."
2. From the list of data analysis procedures on the dialog box, select "histogram." Then click "OK".
3. Specify the Input Range. This is the range of cells which contain the numbers which you would like
organize into a histogram-table. You can type in the cell addresses by hand into the dialog box. Or
you can click on the little blue and red spreadsheet icon, highlight the pertinent range of cells, and
then click again on the little red and blue spreadsheet icon to indicate that you are satisfied with the
selection.
4. Your histogram-table will be easier to understand if you specify bins which have minimum and
maximum values at nice even numbers, rather than at the default numbers chosen by Excel. To do
this, go to an unoccupied region of your spreadsheet, and type in a column of numbers which
represent the uppers ends of the bins you want to use. For the Hudson discharge data, for example, it
works out well to have bin boundaries at 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, and so on up to 20000. Look at
your graphed time series data to get an idea of what bin max and mins are reasonable.
5. In the "bin range" spot on the Histogram dialog, specify the range of cells which contain the upper
limits of the bins you want to use (the little column of numbers which you created in the previous
step.) Note that these numbers represent the upper limit of the range in question. Thus the bin
labeled"1000" will count up all of the days of data on which the discharge was between 0 cfs and
1000 cfs. The bin labeled "2000" will count up all of the days of data on which the discharge was
between 1000 and 2000 cfs.
6. Specify the output range. This is the place on your spreadsheet where Excel will deposit the
histogram-table. Just choose a clean spot on your spreadsheet. You really only need to specify one
cell, which will become the upper left-hand corner of the output table.
7. DO NOT check the "Chart Output" box. There is a bug in many versions of Excel which produces an
error in many cases when you try to do this, and even if you can get Excel to make a histogram-chart
for you, it’s not in the format we want for this exercise.