Creating Standard Deviation plot

[Steve]

Hi,

It may be something obvious but I haven't been able to figure out how to
produce a regular bell curve plot based on the values in a column containing
the ages in years of about 400 people.

Thanks for any help you can provide, Steve.

 

[Steve]

I should have mentioned that I am using Excel 2002

 

[Paul]

Hi,

It may be something obvious but I haven't been able to figure out how to
produce a regular bell curve plot based on the values in a column containing
the ages in years of about 400 people.

Do you just want the simple curve of number of people against age? If so,
you need a list of the possible ages in one column and a count of the number
of people matching each age in the next column (which you can calculate from
your data with a simple formula copied down). Then select the two columns
and make the graph.

Post back with a specific query if you get stuck.

 

[Guest]

You can also use AVERAGE and STDEV to get your mean and standard deviation. I don't believe excel will automatically create a frequency curve from a data set.

Good Luck,
Mark Graesser
(e-mail address removed)

----- Steve wrote: -----

I should have mentioned that I am using Excel 2002

 

[Steve]

Yes, a curve of people vs. age. Would this involve using DCOUNT or COUNTIF?

Thanks again, Steve

 

[Tushar Mehta]

Tools | Data Analysis... | Histogram

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta, MS MVP -- Excel
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA add-ins, tutorials
Custom MS Office productivity solutions

 

[Paul]

Yes, a curve of people vs. age. Would this involve using DCOUNT or COUNTIF?

Thanks again, Steve

Personally I recommend completely ignoring the database functions (starting
with D, like DCOUNT).
You can use COUNTIF.
If you want to summarise the data (e.g. into age bands rather than ages),
use SUMPRODUCT.

 

[Steve]

Thanks everyone for the help - and all in less than an hour and a half.
Steve