Good datasets to pivot:

NYC’s Graduation Outcomes data from NYC Open Data.

Department of Environmental Conservation data on gas wells in New York State.

1. Start with Data > Pivot Table Report – look at the cells Excel proposes to use. Does that include all of your data?
2. Add Row – Use “COUNTY” for the rows. You should see a list of county names.
3. Add Value – Use “API_WELLNO” for now.
4. Check the formula – should excel count values or sum them? Or find an average?

More things to play with:

• Try adding “SLANT” as a Column – horizontal (as opposed to vertical) wells are particularly controversial. Are there any concentrations of horizontal wells?
• How would you work out how much money each county is collecting in permit fees?
• Can you see any trends in the average permit fee in each county?

Fun fact: Excel isn’t that special. I actually use LibreOffice for all my spreadsheet and word processing needs. I like it much better than MS Office. And as a bonus, it is free!