Tag Archives: this week in startups

Dear Analyst #40: A spreadsheet error from two Harvard professors leading to incorrect economic policies after 2008 recession

It’s 2010, and the world is coming out of recession. Two Harvard professors–one of whom is a former economist for the IMF and chess Grandmaster–publish a paper suggesting that a country with a high public debt-to-GDP ratio of over 90% is associated with low economic growth. Turns out the Excel model the professors use is […]

Dear Analyst Episode 24: Finding and ranking percentiles

I discuss how to calculate percentiles in Excel or Google Sheets using the PERCENTILE function. With the PERCENTILE function, you can calculate the value that would represent nth percentile in your list of values. This is not exactly the calculation I was looking for. Instead, what if you wanted to know what the rank percentile […]

Dear Analyst Episode 17: Excel introduces new feature XLOOKUP

New Excel feature alert! Probably one of the biggest announcements in a long time from the Excel world: a new function to supplant VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP. What is it you ask? The XLOOKUP function. Summary of XLOOKUP benefits I discuss some of the benefits, implications for new and existing users of Excel, and also some […]