What are the 3 types of data in a worksheet?

Table of Contents Show

The Number Data Type
The Text Data Type
The Logical Data Type
The Error Data Type

The first step in creating a useful worksheet is entering data. By entering data, you are inputting the information that you want Excel to display, calculate, and store. Data can be entered into a cell or a range of cells. You can even set up a sequence of data and let Excel fill in the remainder of the sequence based on your first few entries.

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Identifying Types of Data

Excel worksheets contain four types of data: text, values, dates, and formulas. Examples of each are found in Table 1-2.

Text	Value	Date	Formula
Supplies	852.34	12/3/02	=C3+D3+E3
12 Dozen	42980.00254	Jan 3, 2001	=245*C3

Table 1-2 : Examples of Data Types

Text data is alphanumeric and cannot be used in most formulas. Values are numerals only. Although a date may seem to be text, as soon as you enter what Excel recognizes as a date, it is formatted and stored using a decimal date format. As a result, dates can be used in complex functions.

Formulas are made up of values and operators. Because formulas contain references to worksheet cells and ranges, they depend on other elements of the worksheet. For instance, if a formula includes a reference to cell C3 and you change the value that is located in C3, the result of the formula will change accordingly.

Entering Text Data into a Cell

A single cell can hold up to 32,000 alphanumeric characters. If the cell is not wide enough and if the cell to the right contains data, some characters may not be visible. Excel hasn’t lost this data; it just doesn’t show it.

On occasion, you may need to enter a number as text. For example, you may want to exclude a number from a summed column. If you type an apostrophe (’) before the number, for example ‘2013, Excel accepts it as text and aligns it on the left, as illustrated in Figure 1-9. All other numbers are right-aligned by default. The apostrophe does not show up in the worksheet cell, but you can see it in the Formula bar. You don’t need to type the apostrophe when a phrase begins with a number as long as it includes text characters, for example, 1st Quarter Summary.

Note Excel 2013 will produce an error at this point de-noted by a green arrow in the top left corner of the cell (This error indicates inconsistent data i.e. number formatted as text). A yellow diamond with an ! in the middle will also appear with options to correct this error.

When you enter functional data into your worksheet (that is a calculation or part thereof; e.g. the equals sign), three buttons appear in the Formula bar to the right of the Name box, shown in Figure 1‑6. Use the Cancel button if you decide not to continue to enter the data into the cell and the Enter button to accept the entry. The Edit Formula button is only operable when the cell contains a formula.

Method

To enter text data into a cell:

Select the cell.
Type the information in the cell.
Click the Enter button.
or
Press Enter to enter the data and move down one cell.
or
Select another cell.

To cancel data before it is entered:

Click the Cancel button.
or
Press Esc

Exercise

In the following exercise, you will enter text data into cells.

Select cell A1.
Type Brian’s Orchard.
Click the Enter button. [Brian’s Orchard appears in A1, and appears to flow into the next column. A1 is still the active cell].
Select cell A2.
Type 1st Quarter Summary.
Click cell A3. [1st Quarter Summary appears in cell A2 and cell A3 is the active cell].
Type 2013.
Click the Cancel button. [The entry is canceled].
Type '2013.
Press Enter. [2013 appears in cell A3 as text and A4 is the active cell].
Using the worksheet below, enter the headings for cells A5, B5, C5, D5, and E5.

Entering Values

You enter values into the worksheet the same way you enter text. However, it’s important to note that values can contain only the following characters:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 + - ( ) , / $ % . E e

Method

To enter values in a cell:

Select the cell.
Type the value in the cell.
Click the Enter button.
or
Press Enter to enter the value and move down one cell.
or
Select another cell.

Exercise

In the following exercise, you will enter values into cells.

Select cell C6.
Type 65. [The range A1 to D5 is selected].
Click the Enter button. [65 appears in cell C6].
Select cell C7.
Type 35. [35 appears in cell C7].
Select cell C8.
Type 20.
Press Enter. [20 appears in cell C8].
In cell D6, enter 0.59.
In cell D7, enter 1.12.
In cell D8, enter -0.25.

Entering Data into a Range

Selecting an entire worksheet is useful when you want to make changes on a global scale. For instance, you might want to change the size of the font in every cell in the worksheet. Once you select the entire worksheet using the Select All button, illustrated in Figure 1-4, you can do this in a single step.

Method

In the following exercise, you will enter data into a range.

Select the desired range.
Type the information into the first cell.
Press Enter to move to the next cell.
Type the appropriate information.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all information is entered.

Exercise

In the following exercise, you will enter data into a range.

Select the range B6:B10. [The range is selected, and B6 is the active cell.
Type Apple Butter.
Press Enter. [B7 is the active cell].
Type Peach Jam.
Press Enter. [B8 is the active cell].
Type Free Sample.
Press Enter. [B9 is the active cell].
Type Pear Butter.
Press Enter. [B10 is the active cell].
Type Roger’s Peanuts.
Press Enter. [B6 is the active cell].
Select the range C9:D10. [The range C9:D10 is selected. The active cell is C9].
In cell C9, type 44, and then press Enter. [Cell C10 becomes active].
In cell C10, enter 114, and then press Enter. [Cell D9 becomes active].
In cell D9, enter 0.69, and then press Enter. [Cell D10 becomes active].
In cell D10, enter 8.99, and then press Enter. [Cell C9 becomes active again].

Many versions of Microsoft Excel has been released since it was first launched in 1987. However, despite the many changes done in the software, it has become an integral part of the Microsoft Office suite and how it processes data remains almost the same. As a spreadsheet program, Excel converts data that is being entered by the user and then processes that data using a different set of functions and commands.

Knowing the different types of data that is used in Excel as well as how to use them is important in creating a useful and effective spreadsheet. Some errors in interpreting and computing data could occur if users are not familiar with using different types of data in Excel. Generally, there are four data types in Excel, and these are number, text, logical, and error data.

The Number Data Type

To explain it in simple terms, numerical values are basically just numbers, such as 10, 65.76, $75, 76%, and 15,785. However, Excel stores numbers as Double-Precision Floating Point values, which means that numbers in Excel are often shown as decimal numbers where you can put a lot of decimal places if needed. With that, Excel can store extremely small and extremely large numbers. However, keep in mind that you can only type 15 significant digits in Excel, and if you type numbers that are more than that number, Excel will then remove the other digits on the right-hand side starting with the 16th significant number and replace them with zeroes.

Numerical data types are often used to represent numerical value, such as pieces of paper, the volume of a container, the value of money in a certain currency, and much more. Numerical data types are also used to represent dates (e.g. January 1, 2020 will be shown as 1/1/2020 in Excel), very large or small numbers in the Scientific E notation, and times because Excel treats time as a fraction of a day (e.g. ¼ of a day or 0.25 of a day would be equivalent to six hours).

Another important note to keep in mind when using different numerical data types is to differentiate the value of the number from the way it would be shown in Excel. For instance, the number 2 could be represented in different formats, such as a general number (2), a currency (¥2), or a percentage (200%).

The Text Data Type

Another type of data commonly seen and used in Excel is the text data type. Excel normally treats text as a string of characters. Excel interprets the letters of the alphabet, numerical characters, symbols such as the ampersand (&) and the percentage sign (%), and spaces and tabs as valid text. A certain value will also be treated as a text if Excel cannot differentiate it as a numerical, logical, or error data type. Note that while Excel could recognize up to 32,768 characters, it could only show up to 1,024 characters on a single cell.

Text data could be used in many ways in Excel. It could be used to label data, separate data into different categories, or could be also used as headings and names.

The Logical Data Type

Logical data type and expressions are some of the most powerful tools that could be used in Excel. Logical values are often shown as either TRUE (or 1 in Boolean value) or FALSE (or 0 in Boolean value). Logical data will often be displayed as a result of a certain function or expressions.

Unlike numerical and text data, logical data cannot be typed in Excel manually by the user and instead will show up as a result of an expression or function. Logical data type is useful in making comparisons, creating conditions, testing these conditions, and checking the contents of a cell location.

The Error Data Type

There are instances when an error would occur when processing data and evaluating the content of a cell in Microsoft Excel. An example of this would be when a user attempts to divide a number by zero, which cannot be defined mathematically and would therefore result in an error. This is where the Error Data Type comes in.

Error data types are often displayed by a hash symbol with uppercase text and a symbol (usually a question mark or an exclamation point) after that. Just like the logical data type, error data types often show up as a result of an error and cannot be typed manually. While they do not represent a certain value, error data types are useful in showing a certain error in computing or processing data, which means you would need to fix it so that the error data type would no longer show up.

In summary, numerical data type shows numbers, text data type displays text and other characters, logical data type expresses the result of a function, while error data types warn users of a certain error in calculating data. All of these data types are useful in their own ways, and when used properly, users could be able to use Excel more effectively in getting things done.