Doing means in excel

Curly brackets are used in array formulas. An array formula is created by pressing the CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER keys together when entering a formula.

Other Important Symbols

Symbols in Formulas in Google Sheets

The symbols used in Google Sheets are identical to those used in Excel.

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What does $ (dollar sign) mean in Excel Formulas?

If you have worked with Excel formulas, I am sure you have noticed that sometimes there is a $ symbol as a part of the cell references.

If you’re wondering what does the $ sign means in Excel formulas/functions, this article is the right place.

Table of Contents

What does $ mean in Excel formulas?

One of the things that make Excel such a powerful tool is the ability to refer to cells/ranges and use these in formulas.

And when you copy these formulas, these cell references can adjust automatically (or should I say automatically).

Below is an example where I copy the cell C2 (which has a formula) and paste it in C3.

You can see that the formula adjusts the references when I copy and paste it. While in the formula in cell C2 refers to A2 and B2, the one in C3 refers to A3 and B3.

This is called relative reference where the references adjust based on the cell in which it has been applied.

But what if you don’t want some cells to adjust the reference?

What if you want to copy the formula, but don’t want the cell reference to change?

…. introducing the $ sign.

When you use a $ sign before the cell reference (such as $C$2), you’re telling Excel to keep referring to cell C3 even when you copy and paste the formula.

Now you can use the dollar ($) sign in three different ways, which means that there are three types of references on Excel.

Shortcut to add $ Sign to Cell References

There are two ways you can add the $ sign to a cell reference in Excel.

You can either do it manually (i.e., go into the edit mode in a cell by double-clicking on it or using F2, placing the cursor where you want the $ sign and then typing it manually).

Or you can use the keyboard shortcut

To use this shortcut, simply place the cursor on the cell reference where you want to add the dollar sign and press is once. You will notice that it will change the reference by adding/removing the $ sign (based on what’s the original reference).

For example, suppose you have the reference C2 in a cell. Here is how the F4 shortcut would work:

• Press F4 one time – C2 will change to $C$2
• Press F4 two times – C2 will change to C$2
• Press F4 three times – C2 will change to $C2
• Press F4 four times – C2 will change back to C2

Types of References in Excel

There are three types of references in Excel:

• Relative references
• Absolute references
• Mixed references

In relative references, you don’t use a dollar ($) sign in the references at all.

In mixed references, you use the dollar sign ($) only once (such as $C3 or C$3)

In absolute reference, you use the dollar sign in twice in a reference (such as $C$3).

Let me quickly explain each of these with a simple example.

Relative reference

Relative reference is where you don’t use a dollar ($) sign at all.

And when you copy a cell that has a relative reference, it will change and adjust based on the cell where you copy it.

Below is the same example again, where the references adjust as soon as we copy and paste the cell that has the formula.

Absolute reference

In absolute references, you have the $ sign before the row number and the column alphabet (example $C$3)

When you use this in formulas, it will not change the reference

when you copy and paste the cell. This could be useful when you have some value that needs to remain constant (such as time period or interest rates, etc.)

Below is an example where I have a value in cell D2 which needs to remain constant (and not change when we copy-paste the formulas).

By using $D$2, we make sure that it doesn’t change when we copy-paste the cell with the formula.

Note that this example has both, relative cell reference (without the $ sign) and an absolute cell reference (with two $ signs).

Mixed reference

These are a little more complicated than the rest two.

In mixed cell references, you will have only one dollar sign (for example – $C3 or C$3)

When you add a dollar sign in front of the column alphabet (C in this example), it locks the column only. This means that if you copy-paste the formula that uses $C3, the column would not change, but the row can change.

And when you add a dollar sign in front of the row number (3 in this example), it locks the column only. This means that if you copy-paste the formula that uses C$3, the row would not change, but the column can change.

Here is a good article that goes in-depth about the mixed cell references in Excel.

Summary

A dollar sign means that the part of the cell reference before which it has been used is anchored or fixed.

Below is a quick summary of what $ means in Excel formulas:

1. $A$1 – always refers to column A and row 1
2. $A1 – Column A is fixed and will not change, but the row is allowed to change as the formula is copied
3. A$1 – Row 1 is fixed and will not change, but the column is allowed to change as the formula is copied.
4. $A$1:$A$100 – always refers to the range A1:A100

I hope this article helps you understand what the $ sign means in Excel and how to use it.

Other Excel tutorials you may find useful:

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by Svetlana Cheusheva, updated on March 20, 2023

When analyzing numerical data, you may often be looking for some way to get the «typical» value. For this purpose, you can use the so-called measures of central tendency that represent a single value identifying the central position within a data set or, more technically, the middle or center in a statistical distribution. Sometimes, they are also classified as summary statistics.

The three main measures of central tendency are Mean, Median and Mode. They all are valid measures of central location, but each gives a different indication of a typical value, and under different circumstances some measures are more appropriate to use than others.

How to calculate mean in Excel

Arithmetic mean, also referred to as average, is probably the measure you are most familiar with. The mean is calculated by adding up a group of numbers and then dividing the sum by the count of those numbers.

For example, to calculate the mean of numbers <1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6>, you add them up, and then divide the sum by 6, which yields 3: (1+2+2+3+4+6)/6=3.

In Microsoft Excel, the mean can be calculated by using one of the following functions:

• AVERAGE- returns an average of numbers.
• AVERAGEA — returns an average of cells with any data (numbers, Boolean and text values).
• AVERAGEIF — finds an average of numbers based on a single criterion.
• AVERAGEIFS — finds an average of numbers based on multiple criteria.

For the in-depth tutorials, please follow the above links. To get a conceptual idea of how these functions work, consider the following example.

In a sales report (please see the screenshot below), supposing you want to get the average of values in cells C2:C8. For this, use this simple formula:

To get the average of only «Banana» sales, use an AVERAGEIF formula:

=AVERAGEIF(A2:A8, «Banana», C2:C8)

To calculate the mean based on 2 conditions, say, the average of «Banana» sales with the status «Delivered», use AVERAGEIFS:

=AVERAGEIFS(C2:C8,A2:A8, «Banana», B2:B8, «Delivered»)

You can also enter your conditions in separate cells, and reference those cells in your formulas, like this:

Median is the middle value in a group of numbers, which are arranged in ascending or descending order, i.e. half the numbers are greater than the median and half the numbers are less than the median. For example, the median of the data set <1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9>is 3.

This works fine when there are an odd number of values in the group. But what if you have an even number of values? In this case, the median is the arithmetic mean (average) of the two middle values. For example, the median of <1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6>is 2.5. To calculate it, you take the 3rd and 4th values in the data set and average them to get a median of 2.5.

In Microsoft Excel, a median is calculated by using the MEDIAN function. For example, to get the median of all amounts in our sales report, use this formula:

To make the example more illustrative, I’ve sorted the numbers in column C in ascending order (though it is not actually required for the Excel Median formula to work):

In contrast to average, Microsoft Excel does not provide any special function to calculate median with one or more conditions. However, you can «emulate» the functionality of MEDIANIF and MEDIANIFS by using a combination of two or more functions like shown in these examples:

How to calculate mode in Excel

Mode is the most frequently occurring value in the dataset. While the mean and median require some calculations, a mode value can be found simply by counting the number of times each value occurs.

For example, the mode of the set of values <1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6>is 2. In Microsoft Excel, you can calculate a mode by using the function of the same name, the MODE function. For our sample data set, the formula goes as follows:

=MODE(C2:C8)

In situations when there are two or more modes in your data set, the Excel MODE function will return the lowest mode.

Generally, there is no «best» measure of central tendency. Which measure to use mostly depends on the type of data you are working with as well as your understanding of the «typical value» you are attempting to estimate.

For a symmetrical distribution (in which values occur at regular frequencies), the mean, median and mode are the same. For a skewed distribution (where there are a small number of extremely high or low values), the three measures of central tendency may be different.

Since the mean is greatly affected by skewed data and outliers (non-typical values that are significantly different from the rest of the data), median is the preferred measure of central tendency for an asymmetrical distribution.

For instance, it is generally accepted that the median is better than the mean for calculating a typical salary. Why? The best way to understand this would be from an example. Please have a look at a few sample salaries for common jobs:

• Electrician — $20/hour
• Nurse — $26/hour
• Police officer — $47/hour
• Sales manager — $54/hour
• Manufacturing engineer — $63/hour

Now, let’s calculate the average (mean): add up the above numbers and divide by 5: (20+26+47+54+63)/5=42. So, the average wage is $42/hour. The median wage is $47/hour, and it is the police officer who earns it (1/2 wages are lower, and 1/2 are higher). Well, in this particular case the mean and median give similar numbers.

But let’s see what happens if we extend the list of wages by including a celebrity who earns, say, about $30 million/year, which is roughly $14,500/hour. Now, the average wage becomes $2,451.67/hour, a wage that no one earns! By contrast, the median is not significantly changed by this one outlier, it is $50.50/hour.

Agree, the median gives a better idea of what people typically earn because it is not so strongly affected by abnormal salaries.

This is how you calculate mean, median and mode in Excel. I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week!

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