Python is a great programming language to learn for anyone in data profession. For people with prior Excel skills and a little bit of programming bent, Python is a valuable skill to acquire. Using Python, we can:

• Automate data collection, clean-up and manipulation
• Create machine learning models, complex data analysis systems
• Produce interesting and advanced data visualizations
• Make interactive windows applications & websites 
• Or just have fun learning and solving problems

Python & me

One of my learning goals for 2022 has been to learn Python. I have been learning how to write Python code and use Python to solve real-world problems since January 2022. In fact, all of us: Jo(wife), Nishanth(son) & Nakshatra(daughter) have been learning Python every week for the last few months. 

So in this article, let me share some resources on how to learn Python (for an Excel person).

Learning Python: Getting started

Download Python:

The first step is to download Python & set up a coding environment.

• Download latest version of Python
• Follow the instructions on the download page to install Python on your computer.

Set-up a coding environment:

Once Python is installed, you may want to also set-up a coding environment. This allows you to write code, execute, debug &  manage files with ease.

• I have been using the excellent Visual Studio Code by Microsoft.
• You can download and install Visual Studio Code (VS Code for short) from here. 

Your first program

Writing a hello world program is the sacred ritual in software development. To create a simple python program that prints the message hello world use below code:

				
					print("hello world")
				
			

Hello World v2.0

You can easily enhance that code to ask the user for their name first and then print a hello message.

For that, you can use the input() function in Python, like this:

				
					name = input("What is your name? ")

print("Hello " + name+ ", This is my first Python program")
				
			

Going beyond: 1+ hour Python Tutorial

I just posted a 1+ hour video on how to write Python code with many examples & 3 projects on my YouTube channel. So if you want to learn a bit more about Python coding, please watch it below or on my channel.

The video covers below topics in detail.

• Getting started with Python
• Working with variables in Python
• IF condition, indentation in Python
• While loop in Python
• Building a simple expense calculator with Python
• Working with Lists in Python
• Using For loop when navigating a list
• Generating list of values with loops
• List comprehension in Python
• How to access an item or a part of list in Python
• Creating a multiplication table with Python lists
• Building an enhanced expense calculator with Python
• Working with CSV & Datetime libraries in Python
• How to execute Python code from command line
• How to learn more – My top 6 tips

Sample Files

As part of the above video, I build many Python examples & 3 mini-projects. 

• Click here to download the source code files (zipped)

The code samples:

• hello.py: Hello world
• agecheck.py: Age check program
• expensecalc.py: Simple expense calculator
• lists.py: Working with lists
• multiplication-table.py: Working with lists & list comprehensions
• expensecalc2.py: Improved expenses calculator
• trackerproject.py: Expense tracker app with Python

Learn more - Python Resources

As I said earlier, Python is a fun and useful language to learn. If you like a bit of challenge, I highly recommend learning Python. Here are a few of my favorite resources to learn & use Python.

Software tools:

• Visual Studio Code for building and managing Python files

Python Books:

• Python Crash Course 2nd Edition by Eric Matthes: This is the book we all (Jo, kids & I) read and really loved it. The explanations and examples are easy enough to get started. There is enough variety to please everyone. Pictured aside is my son with the book
• Automate boring stuff with Python: More practical if you want to get things done with Python. I read it a few times and really like the practicality of the book. 
• Python Data Science Handbook: Python is particularly useful for doing data science & building machine learning models. This is an area of focus for me in the next months. I suggest getting the Python Data Science book once you have strong foundation in the language.

Python related Channels:

Youtube is another popular way to learn Python coding. Here is another excellent getting started tutorial:

• Learn Python – 1hour course by Mosh

Python Courses:

I recommend Coding 101: Python for Beginners by Alvin Wan on SkillShare. It is a concise and practical course that should give you enough confidence to build more powerful code. Check out the class here (you get 1 month free access to SkillShare when you join with my link).

 

Wish you all the best

Note: If you purchase the course or books using my links, I receive a small commission. My recommendation is based purely on the merit of them rather than the payout.

Do you code in Python? Tell me more...

Using the comments below, Do let me know what you use Python for and how you make it part of your work / personal life projects. 

 

The post How to learn Python as an “Excel person”? appeared first on Chandoo.org - Learn Excel, Power BI & Charting Online.

One of my all time favorite comedies is The Hangover. It is the story of four friends – Alan, Stu, Doug & Phil going to Las Vegas for an (un)forgettable night of adventure and mayhem. While the movie did end on a happy note, they forgot one little thing.

They didn’t share the expenses!

So in this installment of Excel Homework, can you split the expenses?

The Problem

Assuming you have below data (feel free to copy paste it in to your Excel, or use this workbook):

				
					Expense Details
Phil: 255.12,121.29,160.23
Alan: 43.17,226.76,343.66,358.01
Phil: 159.95,177.56,278.37
Stu: 206.51,188.09,244.68,33.21,152.98
Phil: 285.91,306.4,140.68
Doug: 226.76,226.76,169.6,208.67
Phil: 326.4
Phil: 308.43,224.95,102.33
Phil: 168.64
Stu: 259.93
Stu: 121.29
Stu: 177
Alan: 172.23
Alan: 214.04,162.58,205.66,188.16,128.41
Alan: 62.75,160.51,173.34,283.8
Phil: 356.3,361.34,41.35,255.94,67.42
Stu: 168.25,161.28,248.45
Doug: 163.93,308.43,218.58
Phil: 226.04,265.97,140.81,197.45
Doug: 216.79,180.39,246.65,149.55

				
			

Your need to generate a a table like this to show who needs to pay whom & how much.

Get cracking then!

Sample file & Your Solution:

Click here to download the sample file with the expenses data. 

You can use any Excel feature to come up with the answer. 

Tell me how you solved it using the comments box below

Watch my solution:

I made a video about this problem and one approach to solve it (using Power Query and Dynamic Array Formulas). Check it out below or on my Channel.

More homework problems:

Need a challenge? I got one or many for you:

• Write a formula for department monthly budget
• Can you find the secret code in the data?
• Can you match the job titles?
• More homework problems

The post Can you split “The Hangover” expenses? [Excel Homework] appeared first on Chandoo.org - Learn Excel, Power BI & Charting Online.

Ladies & gentlemen… Excel has a new function. LAMBDA()  is the new addition to Excel’s family of functions. Using LAMBDA, we can create custom & reusable functions in Excel. 

In this article, learn all about:

• What is LAMBDA()
• How to create LAMBDAs in Excel?
• How to re-use LAMBDAs
• 4 Practical Examples of LAMBDA
• What are LAMBDA helper functions?
• Sharing LAMBDAs with others
• How LAMBDA compares with other custom function options in Excel?

LAMBDA - Who can use it?

LAMBDA() and other lambda helper functions are available in below formats of Excel only.

• Excel 365
• Excel on the Web
• iOS & Android Excel

If you are using an older version of Excel (Excel 2019 / 2016…) then you can test and practice LAMBDA from Excel on the web. Just go to https://excel.new

What is LAMBDA & How to create it?

LAMBDA (pronounced lam-duh) allows us to write our own functions and add them to the library. 

For example, here is a very simple LAMBDA to subtract one value from another.

				
					=LAMBDA(a, b, a-b)
				
			

To call this LAMBDA, you can use the below syntax.

				
					=LAMBDA(a, b, a-b)(90, 12)

' The result will be 78
				
			

Here is a quick demo of our subtraction LAMBDA…

How to use LAMBDA in Excel - Video

I made a video about LAMBDAs. Please watch the video for a bit more explanation and demos. (Watch on Youtube).

How to "install" & "reuse" LAMBDA?

The TRUE Power of LAMBDA is unleashed once you “install” or “setup” them. To install out subtract lambda, 

1. Go to Formulas ribbon and click on “Define Name”.
2. Type a name for the lambda, such as subtract
3. In the “Refers to:” area of the name, type your lambda. For ex:
   1. =LAMBDA(a, b, a-b)
4. Click OK. 
5. That is all. Our SUBTRACT LAMBDA is setup.

To call the lambda, just go to any cell and type the =subtract formula and provide parameters a & b as you normally would.

How awesome is that.

Here is a quick demo of the LAMBDA setup process.

Practical Examples of LAMBDA

Let’s be honest. No one needs the SUBTRACT function. We can already do that with the – (minus) operator. So in this part of the article, let me present some practical LAMBDAs. 

 

Weighted Averages

Calculating weighted averages is a pain in Excel. There is no built-in function to do the task. Well, we can make our own WAVERAGE() function, thanks to LAMBDA().

Define WAVERAGE name as

=LAMBDA(values, weights, SUMPRODUCT(values, weights)/ SUM(weights))

Here is how you can use it to correctly calculate weighted average of salaries.

Top N

Let’s say you have a list of values and just want to get the “topn” values in descending order. We can set up a LAMBDA to do that magic.

Define TOPN name as

=LAMBDA(values, n, LARGE(values, SEQUENCE(n)))

We can call this LAMBDA like:

=TOPN(a1:a10, 3) to see top 3 values in the range A1:A10.

Tomorrow

Excel has the excellent TODAY() function to tell me what is the current date. But there is no TOMORROW()?

Let’s fix that with LAMBDA.

Define the name tomorrow as,

=LAMBDA(TODAY()+1)

And, you can call it by writing =TOMORROW() in any cell. Works like magic…

First Monday of the Month

You can write complex Date logic to figure that out. But who wants to write the same formulas every time. This is the job for LAMBDA.

Define FirstMonday as,

=LAMBDA(anydate,
LET(som, DATE(YEAR(anydate),MONTH(anydate),1), CHOOSE(WEEKDAY(som),1,0,6,5,4,3,2)+som))

And to get the first Monday of any month, you can use =FIRSTMONDAY(any date)

For example, =FIRSTMONDAY(“1-jan-2022”) will be 3-Jan-2022 (which is the first monday).

What are LAMBDA "helper" functions...?

Apart from LAMBDA, Microsoft also introduced a bunch of helper functions so we can truly build any kind of LAMBDAs in Excel.

These are,

• MAP – to map (or apply) a LAMBDA to a range of values and return a range of outputs.
• REDUCE – to take a bunch of values (or lambda outputs) and reduce them to a single value
• SCAN – Returns intermediate results of applying a lambda on an array – one step at a time.
• MAKEARRAY – gives you an array of specific size (rows by columns) by applying the lambdas
• BYCOL – applies a lambda function to a range, one column at a time and returns a row of outputs.
• BYROW – revers of BYCOL…

Read more about the LAMBDA Helper functions here.

How to "share" LAMBDAs with others?

By default, any LAMBDA you create is only available in the workbook. To share LAMBDAs across files or with other users, you can try:

• Simpler option: Email or share the files with others. When they open the file, they can see & use the LAMBDAs in that file or copy paste the names to their own files.
• Better option: You can use the newly added “Advanced Formula Editor” to share and centrally publish lambdas (with Github). This is for advanced users only. You can get the add-on here.

Download - Excel LAMBDA Examples

Click here to download sample workbook with 4 LAMBDAs. Play with the functions or make your own.

How does LAMBDA compare with UDFs?

Seasoned users of Excel know that we already have the ability to create and share our own functions. It is called user defined functions (or UDFs). 

Here are some points on how UDFs compare with LAMBDA.

• UDFs rely on VBA (or add-ins). If you disable the add-in or don’t load the VBA code, then the UDF won’t work.
• LAMBDAs are part of core Excel, so they will run without any permission or loading.
• UDFs are easy to share, but LAMBDAs have no such option yet.
• UDFs work in all desktop versions of Excel. LAMBDA is on available in Excel 365 but they also work on Excel on Web & on apps.
• UDFs let you access Visual Basic object model (restricted) and do things on your spreadsheet that are not possible with formulas (for ex: extract comment in a cell or find the color of a cell). 

 

Learn more about LAMBDA in Excel...

For more information about LAMBDA, please read below pages too:

• Excel LAMBDA help page from Microsoft
• How to use Excel LAMBDA by ExcelJet
• What makes LAMBDA so awesome by Felix @ XLWings
• Advanced Formula Environment add-in from Microsoft (for creating and editing LAMBDAs)

The post What is LAMBDA? 4 Practical examples to REALLY understand it appeared first on Chandoo.org - Learn Excel, Power BI & Charting Online.

Do you want a stylish, interactive and useful monthly calendar & planner template? Then please use below link to download it. A new year gift to you from Chandoo.org ?

Features of the Calendar:

• Works for any month of the year 2022
• Big cells with enough space to jot down notes when printed
• Works in any version of Excel

Features of the Planner:

• A customizable data entry worksheet for activities + events by date
• A set of icons to tag activities
• Works for any month
• Needs Excel 365

Want to know how this is created?

I made a video explaining the calendar + planner logic, formulas and construction. Please watch it here.

Need more templates?

• Annual calendar (works for any year)
• Todo list template
• Project Plan template
• Project management templates (paid)

The post FREE 2022 Calendar & Monthly Planner Printable Template appeared first on Chandoo.org - Learn Excel, Power BI & Charting Online.

Hello readers & fans,

On behalf of my family, our staff, volunteers & well-wishers, Let me wish you a very happy Christmas & prosperous new year 2022. Here is a small holiday card from Chandoo.org HQ.

About this year’s card: (From left: Nishanth, Jo, Nakshu & Chandoo) We went to the beautiful Queenstown this October to celebrate my 40th (XL Birthday!!!) and took this picture just before a sunset. The kids are now taller than mum and as tall as me. We will be taking family pictures sitting down from now on, so that they don’t look like giants. ?

Thank you

2021 has been a very positive and inspiring year for me. I found a renewed sense of mission to learn, grow & share with the world. Even though I did not blog much this year, I have been very active on YouTube, building a community of Excel / Power BI learners. I want to take a minute to acknowledge some of the people & organizations that helped me this year.

• You – for reading my articles, watching the videos or learning from a course. Thank you for making me your learning partner.
• My family – for supporting & loving me all this while. My kids & Jo also played an important role in filming or giving feedback on my videos.
• Microsoft – for creating Excel & Power BI.
• YouTube – for providing an awesome platform to learn & share
• My teachers – too many to name, but thanks for guiding and inspiring me. Some quick shout outs
  • YouTube & Video related: Dusty Porter, Tim & team at Video Creators
  • Life & Inspiration: Wheezy Waiter, Ali Abdaal, Simone Giertz, ElectroBoom

• Conference & events: This year I had the fortune of presenting virtually at many meetups and events. Special thanks to Vena Corp & Global Excel Summit.
• My staff – Ravindra & Pothi for keeping the gears turning and helping me focus.
• My customers – thanks to more than 1,200 people who bought a course, template, e-book or live cohort membership this year and supported me.
• My Supporters – Thanks for more than 145 people who donated a superchat / supersticker during my YouTube live streams this year.
• Our forum regulars & mods – thanks for taking time to help and share your knowledge.
• Blog & channel friends – for recommending & sending people my way. Big thanks to Bill Jelen, Danielle, Ken Puls, Alan Murray, Sumit Bansal & Boriana for sharing a few tips on the channel
• Software providers – for helping me run the site & channel. Big thanks to WordPress, Elementor, Stripe, E-junkie, PayPal, Wishlistmember, KnownHost, ConvertKit, Amazon, Gmail, Techsmith, EpidemicSound, Unsplash, Pexels & Pixabay

This holidays…

We (Jo & I) are taking some time off the work and traveling with kids to South Island on a road trip. We will be visiting Christchurch & Kaikoura for 10 days. I will be sipping beer on the beaches or going for a swim between now & 4th of Jan.

Once again, I wish you a very happy Christmas & a prosperous New Year 2022.

The post Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2022 appeared first on Chandoo.org - Learn Excel, Power BI & Charting Online.

				
					=XLOOKUP(MAX(D6:D45),D6:D45,C6:C45)
				
			

				
					=XLOOKUP(LARGE(D6:D45, 2),D6:D45,C6:C45)
				
			

The post How to write complex Excel formulas (hint: it’s a lot like LEGO) appeared first on Chandoo.org - Learn Excel, Power BI & Charting Online.