Introduction to Excel and how we use the tool for Real World Data Analytics

Excel is a Microsoft Office tool for basic data entry, data analysis, and modelling.

Data can be entered in a cell or in the formula bar; accepted types include text, numbers, dates, special characters, and mixed text strings.

Formatting options include changing font type/size, bold (Ctrl+B), italic (Ctrl+I), cell fill/background, alignment, text wrap, and merging cells.

Data cleaning and validation help maintain consistency: replace blanks with pseudo values (Null, Unknown, Not Provided, N/A), highlight duplicates with conditional formatting, and check alignment cues for inconsistencies.

Use Data Validation from the Data tab to restrict inputs (set source list with comma-separated values), enable Ignore blanks and In-cell dropdown, and use UPPER/LOWER/PROPER/TRIM to standardize text.