You developed a new spreadsheet. You would like to test it out. Here is a quick way to generate numbers and thoughts on how to get the most out of it.
The exercise and the result are in the Rand file.
We have a spreadsheet created with the states listed where a company does business. We want to add dummy sales figures for testing out the spreadsheet. For simplicity, we will just show these two columns.
To add dummy sales numbers, we will use the RAND function, which generates random numbers. This function is unique because you do not add any arguments inside the parenthesis.
We put one in for the first state. The formula is =RAND()
Here is our first observation about RAND. It generates a number from 0 to 1. So as a next step, we multiply it.
Here the formula is =RAND()*10000000. We multiply it by 10,000,000 to get a number in the millions. Two points from here:
The number changes with each calculation
It is not rounded.
Let's round the number and change the formatting as a next step.
Our formula is now =ROUND(RAND()*10000000,0). This looks good, so we can drag it down to the other states.
Almost done. As mentioned, the numbers would change with any calculation or change in the spreadsheet, even a new text value that has nothing to do with the formula.
As a final step, once we are finally satisfied with the dummy numbers, we lock them in by copying the numbers to themselves as values. (highlight the numbers, copy them, then select paste special, then values).
Here is our finished sales data for the test. Note we now just have values in the cells, rather than the RAND formulas.
When you do the exercise, don't worry that you come up with different numbers. After all, it is random!
The RAND function is a great way to develop test numbers. Use the techniques we showed to get the type of values you want, the way you want them to look and to lock them in.