How to Record Raw Data for a MegaStat Probability

Megastat is an add-on software package for the popular spreadsheet program Excel. Megastat adds extra versatility to Excel, as it allows users to compute many statistical functions based on the data in the Excel spreadsheet. However, to run Megastat on your data, you must properly record your raw data into Excel. There are a number of issues you must consider when entering raw data into Excel if you want Megastat to recognize the data properly.

Instructions

1. Lead each column with a label. Type all of the labels in the same row. Make sure the labels are text, not numbers. If you want a label to be a number, either type it in English or proceed it with an apostrophe. For example, if you have a data label that represents the 23rd feature vector of some matrix, you may type “’23” into a data cell for Megastat to understand that this number is a label and not raw data.

2. Type the data for each label underneath that label. Each piece of data should have its own cell. Thus, if you have 100 data points, you will have an Excel file that contains 101 rows (the first row is the label).

3. Combine raw data points with direct formulas. For example, if you want to alter your raw data to prevent problems (such as dividing by zero in the data analysis) or set up combinations of raw data points (such as adding two variables), place the formulas into cells that refer to other labels. Realize this works differently than normal Excel data manipulation: y ou do not need to prefix an equals sign to the formulas. For example, if you want to add data variables “a” and “b,” do so with a command “a+b,” not “=a+b.”

Resources

• “Business Statistics in Practice”; Bruce Bowerman, et al.; 2007