Tip #4308 - Data Range Reduction or Increase
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Data Range Reduction or Increase
Have you ever
found yourself looking at a range of data in MS Excel, wishing for
an easy way to increase or decrease all their values by the same factor
or amount?
Maybe each value
must be reduced by 10 percent or maybe each one must be increased
by a constant amount.
Whatever your
situation, I'm sure you'd like a quick and easy way to make the adjustments
you need.
First of all,
forget the idea of adjusting each cell manually (unless you need different
adjustments made to each piece of data) and banish the thought of
writing a formula somewhere linked to the range and creating a whole
new set of data.
That's just too
much wasted energy and time!
So, the next time
you find yourself in this situation, give this little trick a try.
In an empty cell,
enter the amount by which you need to alter the data.
That is, the amount to be added or subtracted from each piece of data
or the percent of the data that should remain in the cell after the
adjustment. For example, if you want to add 5 to each piece of data,
enter 5 into a cell. If you want to reduce all the values by 20 percent,
enter 0.8 in the cell, because 80 percent of the data will be left
after the 20 percent reduction. If you want to increase each piece
of data by 15 percent, enter 1.15 into a cell (the 1 for the original
amount and the .15 for the increase). You get the idea!
Once you've entered
your alteration amount, select the cell and copy
the information.
Next, you need
to highlight the range of data to be altered.
Right
click and select Paste Special (Edit
menu, Paste Special choice or for the Excel
2007 Home ribbon, click the down arrow on
the Paste button and choose Paste Special).
In the Paste Special
window, you're looking for the Operation section.
Choose
the operation you're looking to apply (Add, Subtract, Multiply
or Divide).
Click OK.
Poof!
The old data from
the range is gone and in its place is the altered version you have
been waiting for. That's right, no creating new data sets or formulas
for you!
~ April
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