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Solving a Mystery With Excel: The Secret in the Cells

Posted by on Thursday, June 27th, 2013

Everyone loves a good mystery story. Sometimes the answer to those mysteries are found in the tiny cells of an Excel spreadsheet. You can do it too! Use a PDF to Excel converter to help unlock the secret.

Data Detective

Image source: Blog.ted.com

There are many mysteries in life and work that require a great deal of investigation. In order to be a good investigator, you have to be methodical. You can’t just gather information helter skelter and then spend your time searching through pieces of paper, or online documents that you have saved in your favorites.

You have to have a system and it has to be easy to use and to read. By using a spreadsheet to compile all of your data, you’ve got one database for your information and it is laid out in manner that makes comprehension of that information less taxing.

Police Investigation

Image source: Darienpolice.org

The problem that deters many people is that it is difficult to get that information into a spreadsheet. If there seems like a line you can’t cross, you have to go around it or below it, or find a way to deal with it. With a PDF to Excel converter, you can take PDF files, Word documents or information from other sources and add it to your spreadsheet.

Some mysteries have to be solved quickly. If you are a police officer investigating a crime, time is of the essence. A forensic accountant is usually overloaded with work, and his or her clients are anxious for the results before the person embezzling funds has a chance to drain the company coffers.

The scientist who is looking for a cure for a rare disease may spend years working on their project. That is a lot of data to go through.

 

Even the mystery writer has to plot the storyline and make sure that the mystery isn’t discovered until the climax of the book or movie.

No matter what occupation you are in, you can use a spreadsheet to solve some problem or uncover a secret. Sometimes the answer is right in front of our face, but we miss it. Seeing things on a chart or graph makes it much easier.

Five Years of Traffic Fatalities Chart

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It doesn’t even have to be an earth shattering discovery. You may just want to figure out how much money you have so you can plan your vacation. By using a spreadsheet and detailing all of your expenses and the money that you have coming in, you may find that you have a bit more than you thought. You may also make another discovery — Guess what? You are spending four dollars a day on coffee and if you took your coffee to work you would have the money for your trip in no time.

Maybe the one mystery you have to uncover is why you aren’t getting ahead at work. Do you have a time management problem? A PDF to Excel converter can help with that.

That Eureka moment is hiding in those cells. See if you can find it.