On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 20:22:29 -0600, juggo
wrote:


Hey,

Here's my problem/question.

I have a big excel file with about 6000 rows of data (mostly text).
The 6,000 entries in Column B are all text and that is the data I'm
interested in. Each entry contains a person's name. My goal is to
figure out which name's are the most commonly listed. Yes I could just
sort by that particular column and I've done that. But with 6000+
entries, it's still hard to tell which are listed the most.

So my aim would be something like the following...

If I have this in Column B (shorter version, what is listed after the
'--' would be the cell contents):
Row1 -- Jake Scott
Row2 -- Donald Smith
Row3 -- Tim Matthews
Row4 -- Donald Smith
Row5 -- Jake Scott
Row6 -- Donald Smith

For it to be able to tell me that 'Jake Scott' occurs 2 times, 'Donald
Smith' occurs 3 times, and 'Tim Matthews' occurs 1 time. And then sort
those numbers so I can have a list of the most common entries.

Would this be possible? If so, how? If not, any other ideas outside
of Excel?

regards,

Jon

You could use a Pivot Table, or Data/Sort Data/Subtotals

1. Insert a "Label Row" at Row 1
2. B1: Names
C1: Frequency
C2: =COUNTIF(rng,B2)
(where rng is a named reference or an absolute reference to your list of names
in B2:Bn)

3. Fill down from C2:Cn

4. Data/Sort Descending on Frequency

5. Data/Subtotals
At each change in Names
Use Function Count
Add Subtotal to Frequency

Click on the <2 to collapse to just the Count of Names.

------------------
For a Pivot Table, no need for the second column.

Just use the Pivot Table wizard; drag Names to Rows and Names to Data area. It
should give you a count and, if necessary, you should be able to sort it.


--ron