Dot plots are a very popular and effective charts. According to dot plots wikipedia article,
Dot plots are one of the simplest plots available, and are suitable for small to moderate sized data sets. They are useful for highlighting clusters and gaps, as well as outliers. Their other advantage is the conservation of numerical information.
Today we will learn about creating in-cell dot plots using excel. We will see how we can create a dot plot using 3 data series of some fictitious data. We will create something like this:
Note: If you are new to in-cell charting, I suggest you read the incell bar charts article to understand the concept.
1. Take your data and massage it a bit
Since we are doing an incell variation of dot plot, we need to pre-process the data a little bit. Assuming we have data on revenues of 3 imaginary companies – MegaHard, Grape and Twogle like this:
We need to normalize the data to some meaningful number like 100 (remember, incell graphs print some character for each unit in the data.) so that the in-cell dot plot looks meaningful.
After normalizing the data we will also need to calculate some helper columns so that we can develop the incell dot plot easily. The helper columns (3 of them) will show,
- Smallest value in each row – 1
- Next smallest value in each row – previous helper column – 2
- The largest value in each row – previous two helper columns – 3
Helper columns ?!? why are we doing this?
The helper columns (or intermediate values) are usual practice when we need to pre-process data for dashboards or charts. Once the chart is ready, I usually hide the helper columns as they do not really say anything.
In our case, we are using helper columns since the formulas for plotting the incell dot plot are rather long and we would make then even longer if we don’t use these.
2. Identify Symbols for Each Data Series
This is the simple job. In our case I have shown the symbols we are going to use in the above image. You can find some interesting symbols like triangles, rectangles, circles etc. in a regular font like Arial. Just go to Menu > Insert > Symbol (or Insert > Symbol in Ribbon) to find the symbols you like.
Let us assume the symbols are in the range C5:E5
3. Finally Write the Formulas That Generate the In-cell Dot Plot
Now comes the fun part. We have the normalized data in the range C16:E16, and the helper values in F16, G16, H16.
For the first row of the dot plot, the formula looks like:
=REPT("-",F16)&INDEX($C$5:$E$5,MATCH(SMALL(C16:E16,1),C16:E16,0))&REPT("-",G16)&INDEX($C$5:$E$5,MATCH(SMALL(C16:E16,2),C16:E16,0))&REPT("-",H16)&INDEX($C$5:$E$5,MATCH(SMALL(C16:E16,3),C16:E16,0))&REPT("-",100-MAX(C16:E16))
huh! it has to be one of the longest formulas I have written in a while.
I thought long and hard about how this formula can be explained and came up with the below illustration.
Once you have the formula for one row, we just need to copy paste it over the entire range to show dot plot for each year of the data. That simple!
Some formula help if you are stuck – REPT() | SMALL() | MATCH() | MAX()
How to Generate 2 Series Dot Plots?
The 2 series dot plots have even simpler formulas. So I am leaving it to your imagination. But when you finish it, the dot plot looks something like this:
Download the In-cell Dot Plot Template and Make your own Dot plots
The downloadable workbook has examples for 2 series and 3 series in-cell dot plots. Go ahead and play with it.
Further Resources on Dot Plots
Dot plots are not new, there is quite a bit of material and tools available for you to understand and make dot plots. They are proven to be very effective tools for communicating small to medium series of data. I suggest you to read few of these articles to learn more about dot plots.
Naomi’s Article on B-eye Network on Dot Plots
Excel Dot Plots using Bar Charts by Jon Peltier (Also try Excel Dot Plotter Add-in)
Excel User on Dot plots and why they are better
More on In-cell Charts
Incell Bar | Sparklines | Pie charts | Bullet Graphs | w/ Conditional Formatting
27 Responses to “Sum of Values Between 2 Dates [Excel Formulas]”
I would apply a filter and use function subtotal, with option 9. This way you can see multiple views based on the filter.
hey Chandoo, the solutions you proposed are very efficient, but if I wanted to be fancy I would do it this way .. the references are as your example workbook.
=SUM(INDIRECT("C"&(MATCH(F5,B5:B95)+4)):INDIRECT("C"&(MATCH(F6,B5:B95)+4)))
I like things simple:
=SUMIF(B5:B95,">="&F5,C5:C95)-SUMIF(B5:B95,">"&F6,C5:C95)
use something like: =SUM(OFFSET(B1,0,0,DATEDIF(A1,D1,"d")))
and have D1 be the date that I want to sum to.
In Excel 2003 (and earlier) I'd use an array formula to calculate either with nested if statements (as shown here) or with AND.
{=SUM(IF(B5:B95>F5,IF(B5:B95<F6,C5:C95,0),0))}
Note that I truly made this for BETWEEN the dates, not including the dates
I turned the data set into a table named Dailies.
I named the two limits StartDate and EndDate.
And used an array formula:
{=SUM((Dailies[Date]>=StartDate)*(Dailies[Date]<=EndDate)*Dailies[Sales])}
If I would still be using the old Excel I would do it as follows:
SUMIF($B$5:$B$95,"<="&H6,$C$5:$C$95)-SUMIF($B$5:$B$95,"<"&H5,$C$5:$C$95)
Works as simple as it is.
Regards
=sum(index(c:c,match(startdate,c:c,1)+1):index(c:c,match(enddate,c:c,1))
=sum(index(c:c,match(startdate,b:b,1)+1):index(c:c,match(enddate,b:b,1))
Great examples and thanks to Chandoo. You have simplified my work.
Hi! great tips I have found in your page, have you seen this
http://runakay.blogspot.com/2011/10/searching-in-multiple-excel-tabs.html
[...] I'm not sure I understand your question fully, but have a look at this: Sum of Values Between 2 Dates [Excel Formulas] | Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel Online [...]
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
=SUMIF(A2:A11;">="&B13;B2:B11)-SUMIF(A2:A11;"<"&A11;B2:B11)
awesome... thank yoo Chandoo!
which is most efficient and fast, if all are efficient ?
Thank you for this formula, I've just spent ages trying to find something to work on my data, I knew it would be possible! Don't care if others think there are easier/other ways to do it, you explained it so I understood it and could apply it to what I was doing so I'm happy!
The above said example is awesome for calculating values between dates,
can you pls let know how to calculate sale values if we have 10 sales boys for
ex: 1,rama
2,krishna
3,ashwin
4,naga
5,suresh
how much rama sale value between 1/jan/2015 to 10/jun/15
how much krishna sale value between 10/jan/2015 to 15/july/2015
i think you understood can you pls let me know the formula for how to calculate the sale between diffrent sale man sale value from master data file
Thanks,
Nagaraju
Hi
I have a list of people's names in column A, I have a list of dates in column B which records the dates they have been off sick, in column C I have either 1 if it is a full sick day or 0.5 if it is a half day.
What I would like to do is to add up the number of dates a specific person has been off within two dates.
For example, I want to look at my list of names and to find Joe Bloggs (column A), then add up all his sick days (column C). The start date will be in cell E1 and the end date will be in F1.
If this possible using SUMIFS?
List of names are in range A2:A100
List of dates in B2:B100
List of sick days (either 0.5 or 1 in C2:C100
The start date is in cell E2
The end date is in cell F2
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, with the help of SUMIFS you can have the solution.
Note: you need have an extra col. D2 where you will input Name of the person.
=SUMIFS(C2:C100,A2:A100,D2,C2:C100,">="&E2,C2:C100,"<"&F2)
Col. A Col. B Col. C Col.D Col. E Col. F
Name Date Sales
ABC 28-Jun-11 1 MNO 28-Jun-11 25-Sep-11
XYZ 29-Jun-11 0.5
MNO 30-Jun-11 1
PQR 1-Jul-11 1
Typo ERROR / Correction in formula:
Yes, with the help of SUMIFS you can have the solution.
Note: you need have an extra col. D2 where you will input Name of the person.
=SUMIFS(C2:C100,A2:A100,D2,B2:B100,">="&E2,B2:B100,"<"&F2)
Hi
I have a list of people's names in column A, I have a list of dates in column B which records the dates they have been off sick, in column C I have either 1 if it is a full sick day or 0.5 if it is a half day.
What I would like to do is to add up the number of dates a specific person has been off within two dates.
For example, I want to look at my list of names and to find Joe Bloggs (column A), then add up all his sick days (column C). The start date will be in cell E1 and the end date will be in F1.
If this possible using SUMIFS?
List of names are in range A2:A100
List of dates in B2:B100
List of sick days (either 0.5 or 1 in C2:C100
The start date is in cell E2
The end date is in cell F2
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Viv
@Viv
Can you please post the question in the Chandoo.org Forums
http://forum.chandoo.org/
Please attach a file so that a specific answer can be delivered.
Thanks for this - it solved the problem that I was having. However can someone please explain to me why the "" needs to be around >= and <= as well as why we need to add & in order for the formula to work? Thanks in advance!
This formula works perfectly as well. Any ideas?: =SUM(INDEX(C5:C95,MATCH(H5,B5:B95,1)):INDEX(C5:C95,MATCH(H6,B5:B95,1)))
ikkeman had posted the same thing.
I am trying to sum total a range of cells between date ranges ie column n has $ amounts column d has the transaction dates ie 1/3/2015 or 25/3/2015 or 25/4/2015 column b has the text saying drp or distribution - reinv
In another cell I am trying to sum or total (in column n) with the value of a range of different dates (column d) that contain different text (column b) ie cell n48 is 50, n65 is 85, n165 is 36
with the dates ie cell d48 is 1/3/2015, d65 is 25/3/2015 and d165 is 25/4/2015
with different text that says drp or distribution - reinv ie cell b48 is drp, b65 is distribution - reinv, b165 is drp
If I wanted to sum the amounts between 1/3/2015 to 31/3/2015 with drp then the total would be 50. Also if I wanted to sum the amounts between 1/4/2015 to 30/4/2015 with drp the sum total would be 36 If I wanted to sum the amounts between 1/3/2015 to 31/3/2015 with drp and distribution - reinv the sum would be 115
What would the formula be for these different questions
hope you can help, it has been driving me nuts and cant work it out