9. Write your own formula: Calculate a Proportion (%)
4: Calculate the proportion (%) of students in your cohort who are male
- In your "calculations" worksheet, locate the appropriate cell to enter the proportion of students who are male:
- With your mouse, select the cell in which you want to enter the proportion of students who are male.
- You will need to now calculate the following formula:
=([count of males] ÷ [total n of students])
NOTE: In Excel, "divide by" (÷) is represented using the character "/".
You can enter these counts/totals manually, or you can select the cell in which they are located as follows:
1. In the formula bar, type:
=
click in the cell containing the count of males
this cell reference (e.g., C27) should now be written in the formula bar after the equals sign (=)
3. click back into the formula bar and type:
/
4. click in the cell containing the total count of students
5. click back into the formula bar and finish the bracket:
)
- Press the Enter key on your keyboard
You have now calculated the proportion of males within your student cohort.
BUT ... often we like to present proportions as percentages (%). To do this we need to multiply the proportion by 100. Adding this to the original formula would look like this:
=([count of males] ÷ [total n of students]) x 100
NOTE: In Excel, "multiply by" (x) is represented using the character "*".
- Select the cell with the proportion of males in the student cohort
- In the formula bar, click at the end of the existing formula, and type:
*100
- Press the Enter key on your keyboard
You have now calculated the proportion (%) of males in your student cohort.
Now SAVE your workbook!
Did you all get the same answer?
TIME TO PRACTICE:
Using the same process as above, calculate the proportion of females within your student cohort.
How did you go?