Percentages

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Percentages

Postby Quintaton » Fri Jan 29, 2010 7:24 am

Been using AppleWorks since Claris 1 and never wanted to do percentages in spreadsheets. Now I do - but can't discover how! No pie charts (read the article) just a simple percentage at the foot of a column quasi addition. Any ideas out there, please?
Quintaton
 
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Re: Percentages

Postby Barry » Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:18 am

Hi Q,

I'm not clear on what it is you want to do. If you just want to display your result as a percentage, set the format of the cell containing the result to Percent, with as many places after the decimal as you need. That's done in the Number Format dialogue.

Three ways to get there:
1.
Select the cell.
Go Format > Number

2.
Select the cell.
Press shift-command-N

3.
Double click the cell.

When the dialogue is open, use the popup menu to choose Percent, then set the Decimal precision box for the number of places you want after the decimal.
Click Done.

Regards,
Barry
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Re: Percentages

Postby Quintaton » Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:37 am

Thanks Barry - maybe I should have been more specific. You have taught me something though: I've been using the number dialogue for 17 years without the percent line impinging on my decrepit old brain! But I don't see what this is a percentage of.

I have a column of 80 entries each entry being marks out of ten. Line 81 is the total, line 82 has 800 entered so I end up with, say, 420 (81) over 800 (83). I want line 84 to express line 81 as a percentage of line 82. Unless, of course, there's a better way of doing it.

Thanks.

Q
Quintaton
 
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Re: Percentages

Postby Dean M Aschenbrenner » Sat Jan 30, 2010 1:46 pm

Hi Q:

It sounds to me like you might be a teacher(I retired after 38 years!) I'm assuming 80 values or grades. If it's an AVERAGE you are looking for just go to where you want the average and type the formula =AVG(A1..A80) and that will give you an average. It will SKIP any 'blanks' so if you intend to 'punish' students for not doing something then you MUST add a zero in the grade blank.

Use Barry's directions to change to a % but I never bothered - I just let the thing run as a decimal and then 'changed' to a % on the Report Card.

If you want a copy of one of my grade books just send an email to [email protected] and I'll send you one back.

Hope this helps. Please let us know.

Blessings, Dean
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Re: Percentages

Postby Quintaton » Sat Jan 30, 2010 3:21 pm

Thankyou both for those posts. I'm no mathematician but neither seemed quite to fit the bill and the word "percentage" doesn't appear in the index of any of my Claris/AppleWorks handbooks.

After all the above my aging brain managed one of its rare ideas: I typed into the appropriate cell the formula I would use if I were doing it on my calculator, viz

=(C81)/(C82) - i.e. cell 81, the total "marks", divided by cell 82, the maximum marks - and then just "%" and to my surprise it worked. I inserted a selection of trial numbers where the percentages were obvious and they all came up trumps. I copied the formula across my spreadsheet and am (I hope!) ready for business.

I've learned several things and am delighted to be reconnected with AWUG

Quintaton.
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