Various Data Types in MS-Excel

Excel data types are the four different kinds of values in Microsoft Excel. The four types of data are text, number, logical and error. You may perform different functions with each type, so it’s important to know which ones to use and when to use them. You may also consider that some data types may change when exporting data into a spreadsheet.

Various Data Types in MS-Excel

Number data

Data is this category includes any kind of number. These may include large numbers or small fractions and quantitative or qualitative data. It’s important to remember the difference between quantitative and qualitative number values because some numbers may not represent an amount of something. For example, you might enter a number that represents financial earnings in one cell and a number that represents a date in another. Both count as number data, but may enter differently in the spreadsheet. Make sure you use the appropriate symbols and formats to ensure Excel reads your number data accurately.

Examples of number data may include: Monetary totals, Whole numbers, Percentages, Decimals, Dates, Times, Integers, Phone numbers

Text data

This kind of data includes characters such as alphabetical, numerical and special symbols. The primary difference between number data and text data is that you can use calculations on number data but not text data. Since there can be overlap between these two types of data, you may manually change the format of a cell to ensure it operates the way you want. You may also use text data to label columns or rows to help keep track of different categories. For example, you may label a row “City” and a column “Jabalpur”

Excel may categorize figures it doesn’t recognize as text data by default, so it’s important to format your data to fit the type you want. Examples of text data may include: Words, Sentences, Dates, Times, Addresses

Logical data

Data in this type is either TRUE or FALSE, usually as the product of a test or comparison. This means you can use a function to determine whether the data in your spreadsheet meets different measures. For example, you may want to use your spreadsheet to set sales goals and measure whether your sales performance matches. You may conduct these tests using logical functions for different scenarios. The four logical functions are:

• AND: An AND function may help you determine whether your data meets multiple conditions. For example, you might use this function to test if data in one cell is larger than a certain amount and the data in another cell is also larger than another amount.
• OR: You may use this function to determine that at least one of your arguments meets your conditions. If none of the data matches your conditions, Excel produces a FALSE value.
• XOR: This function stands for “Exclusive Or,” which means that only one argument may be TRUE or FALSE. For example, you might use this function to ensure that only one of your cells contains a certain value.
• NOT: You might use this function when you want to filter out arguments that don’t match your conditions. This marks each argument as TRUE so you can assess possible patterns in data that doesn’t match your conditions.

Error data

This type of data occurs when Excel recognizes a mistake or missing information while processing your entry. For example, if you attempt to run a function on a cell that contains text data, Excel produces the error value #VALUE!. This helps you identify where the issue is so you can correct it and produce the result you want. A “#” character at the beginning of each error value can help you easily recognize these instances. Knowing the different error values can help you understand how to resolve different mistakes or add the appropriate information. These values are:

• #NAME?: You may see this value if you have a value inside a formula without quotes or with a beginning or end quote missing. It may also populate if there’s a typo in the formula.
• #DIV/0: This error value might arise if you try dividing a number by zero. Since the result is an undefined number, Excel uses #DIV/0 to represent where you can try a different equation.
• #REF!: An invalid cell reference error value may result if you remove or paste items in a cell or range of cells where you previously entered a formula. To correct this issue, you can undo your previous action and place your new data in a cell or cell range that doesn’t contain a formula.
• #NUM!: A #NUM! value may appear if you enter an invalid formula or function. It may also appear if the total that a formula or function produces is too large for Excel to represent in a cell.
• #N/A: You may enter this error value when you want to indicate to yourself areas where you can enter a value later. Excel may also automatically populate this value if imported data contains empty or unreadable cells.
• #VALUE!: This error indicates that an argument or operator in a function or formula is invalid. For example, if you try to calculate the sum of a range of cells where one cell contains alphabetical characters, you can get a #VALUE! result.
• #NULL!: If you’re referencing the intersection between a range of cells in a function, you may see this error value because those cells don’t actually intersect. It may also appear if a range of cells for a function are missing separating commas.