I have about 100 rows of data, 2 columns. Column A has names of products,
Column B has the number of days it took to sell them. I would like to look
at the distribution:

Y axis, frequency of days
X axis, the number of days

I guess that is a bell curve. Ideas?

Thanks.

Make a "bin" - list of numbers that catch all your days-to-sell values.
Let's say in F1:F10 you have 1,2,3...10

Let's say your data base is in A1:B100 (item, days)
Select G1:G10
Type =FREQUENCY(F1:F10,B1:B100) and commit this with ctrl+shift + enter (Not
just enter)

Make a Line chart of F1:G10

OR learn about Pivot Tables
ttp://www.cpearson.com/excel/pivots.htm
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Pivots/pivotstart.htm
http://www.contextures.com/xlPivot02.html
http://www.ozgrid.com/Excel/excel-pivot-tables.htm
http://www.techonthenet.com/excel/pivottbls/index.htm
http://www.dicks-blog.com/archives/2...le-parameters/

best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme
remove caps from email

"PAL" wrote in message
...
I have about 100 rows of data, 2 columns. Column A has names of products,
Column B has the number of days it took to sell them. I would like to
look
at the distribution:

Y axis, frequency of days
X axis, the number of days

I guess that is a bell curve. Ideas?

Thanks.

PAL -

If you want to disregard the product name, you could first develop a
frequency distribution using several COUNTIF worksheet functions, or an
array-entered FREQUENCY function, or a pivot table. Then you could plot the
frequency results as a histogram using a Column chart type.

Or, you could use the Histogram tool of Excel's Analysis ToolPak; see
Excel's Help. Or, you could use my free Better Histogram add-in, available
from the Histogram page at www.treeplan.com.

If you want a separate distribution for each product, then you could sort
first, or you could use a pivot table.

It may turn out that the histgram (chart of the frequency distribution) has
a bell-curve shape. Or not.

- Mike Middleton
http://www.DecisionToolworks.com
Decision Analysis Add-ins for Excel



"PAL" wrote in message
...
I have about 100 rows of data, 2 columns. Column A has names of products,
Column B has the number of days it took to sell them. I would like to
look
at the distribution:

Y axis, frequency of days
X axis, the number of days

I guess that is a bell curve. Ideas?

Thanks.