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To create a percent frequency distribution in Excel, first enter the data for which you want to create the distribution into a column. Then, select the data and click insert, followed by the ‘column’ chart option. This will create a chart showing the frequency of each value. To convert this to a percent frequency distribution, click the ‘chart elements’ button and select ‘data labels’, followed by ‘more options’. In the ‘format data labels’ window, select the ‘value from cells’ option and choose the column that contains the data. Finally, check the ‘percentages’ box and click ‘OK’. This will create the percent frequency distribution.
A percent frequency distribution can be used to understand what percentage of a distribution is composed of certain values.
The following step-by-step example shows how to create a percent frequency distribution in Excel.
Step 1: Create the Data
First, let’s create a dataset that contains information about 20 different basketball players:
Step 2: Calculate Frequencies
Next, we’ll use the UNIQUE() function to produce an array of unique team values in column A:
Next, we’ll use the COUNTIF() function to count the number of times each team appears:
Step 3: Convert Frequencies to Percentages
Next, we’ll convert each frequency to a percentage by dividing each individual frequency by the sum of the frequencies:
Next, we’ll highlight each of the values in column F and click the percentage (%) icon in the Number group along the top ribbon:
Each value will automatically be displayed as a percentage:
- 35% of all players belong to team A
- 25% of all players belong to team B
- 15% of all players belong to team C
- 25% of all players belong to team D
Note that the percentages add up to 100%.
The following tutorials offer additional information on how to calculate frequencies in Excel: