Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
On this page we will answer frequently asked questions, please check here before posting your own questions on the discussion forum.
Questions concerning Certificate, Videos, Quizzes, Exercises:
When is the deadline to register for a Verified Certificate?
The option will remain open until 3 days before the Course Closing date on January 15th, 2017.
Is there a specific time when I should be online to follow this course?
There are no specific times you should be online. All course material is available at least until the end of the course on January 15th, 2017.
Can I download the videos for offline viewing?
Yes, the links will be available in video description, including subtitles and PowerPoint slides.
The same videos are shown multiple times, is this correct?
Yes, this is correct. In one section, one lecture / video is covered. However, during some lectures like lecture 1.6 , Felienne asks in-video exercises to become more familiar with the course material. These questions are on the next tab within the learning unit. After answering that question, you can continue with the second (or third) part of the lecture, again on the next tab. You can navigate to this tab via the ribbon above the video / exercises or below via the arrows.
I cannot find the Excel file for the exercise.
Please take a close look to the introduction of the exercise, the word 'here' in "... you can find the spreadsheet here ..." provides a download.
When can I start the next week?
All weeks will be available at the start of the course, which means that it's up to you to decide when to complete each week and move on to the following one.
No one answered my question on the forum.
This run of the MOOC is self paced. We do not provide TA guidance in the forum.
General Excel questions:
I have a different version of Excel (e.g. Excel 2007 or Excel 2011 for Mac), can I use it for this course?
You will be able to do most of the things shown in the videos. Some functionalities of Excel might be found at slightly different places however.
I do not have access to any version of Excel, can I use alternatives like OpenOffice, LibreOffice or Google docs?
You will be able to do a lot of the things outlined in the videos and exercises in these alternative programs as well. However, we (the course staff) do not offer extensive support for these alternatives and some functionalities might simply be missing from them.
Do I have to pay for Microsoft Office 2013?
You can use free 60-days trial Microsoft Office 2013 Evaluation version or one month trial Office 365.
The real fanatics can even dive into the preview version of Microsoft Excel 2016 (though, we do not support this version).
I do not have the Professional Plus edition of Excel. How do I perform the Power Pivot assignments?
It is possible to download a trial version of Microsoft Office from their website.
Function names in other languages
Non-English Excel versions will not be able to show the English function names, there are at least no free packages available to transform Excel from your own language to the English one. There are a few workarounds.
1.) Install a trial version of MS Excel 2013 (English). Microsoft Office 2013 Evaluation or Office 365
2.) Use this website or this website to find the corresponding function name for your own language.
Change decimal separator:
I cannot multiply two numbers.
Some numbers are aligned left, others right.
All these types of questions have the same origin. In this case one of the numbers is not recognized as a number, but as a string. That is why the numbers are aligned left or you are unable to calculate with them.
There are several workarounds, depending on the cause of this deficiency.
1.) Isolate a number from a text string with stringformulas like =LEFT(), =RIGHT() or MID()
In this case, Excel treats the result of a string formula also as a string. In other words, independent whether the result is pure numerical, Excel holds it for a string. Meaning that you cannot use them in calculations.
Solution, add =VALUE() around your formula, and Excel will return the number.
2.) The numbers contains the wrong decimal separator.
Your system settings consider "." for a decimal separator and "," for a thousand separator. However, your (imported) source data uses the separator the other way around. So "," as decimal separator and "." as thousand separator.
Solutions, there are different ways to tackle this problem.
a.) When all your data is founded on other separator settings, or for a significant amount of your job, consider to change your system settings.
Control panel --> regional settings (or region and language) --> choose another format or click 'additional settings' and change the separators
b.) When you have just one worksheet with inversed separator settings, consider to change the Workbook settings.
File --> Excel options --> advanced settings --> uncheck 'using system seperator settings' and define your own case.
c.) When you have imported data you can replace all "," for "." or the other way around with find replace. See this forum topic for a better explanation.
Questions concerning week 1:
Questions concerning week 2:
I am using Excel 2010, can I do the Power Pivot assignments?
Yes you can. You can install Power Pivot as a plug-in in Excel 2010. This office web page describes how.
I do not have the Professional Plus edition of Excel. How do I perform the Power Pivot assignments?
It is possible to download a trial version of Microsoft Office from their website.
Questions concerning week 3:
I filled in the correct answer for the Trends and Predictions quiz (3.4), but my answer was marked as incorrect.
The most likely reason for a wrong answer is because you did not realize that the line chart in Excel does not regard the x-axis values as real numbers, but as ordinal numbers (simply test labels). This means that if you use x=50 in ax+b=y you are referring to data point 50. This can cause trouble if the names of your data points do not start at 1. For example, in the case where you start counting from week 30.
A solution to this problem is to use the scatter plot instead of the line plot in Excel. The scatter plot does regard the x-axis values to be real numbers.
We increased the number of tries for this question to 3. Thanks for your feedback on the forum!
Questions concerning week 4:
Quiz 4.3 - I used ROUND(), as suggested by the quiz, but my answer was incorrect.
You should only round your final answer to two decimal places. Using the ROUND() function on intermediate values can result in wrong answers.
Lecture / Quiz 4.4 - I'm following Felienne's steps, but my price for lemonade differs from the one in the lecture.
Make sure you do not set the price of water to 0. It is actually 0.0001, but this is not visible in the lecture video.
Quiz 4.5 - I'm not sure what is meant by the constraint regarding the ratio between amount of water and number of lemons.
The number of lemons should be [1%, 5%] of the amount of water in milliliters. Maybe an example works best: for 100 ml of water between (including) 1 and 5 lemons must be added.