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4.5 Chapter Practice

To assess your understanding of the material covered in the chapter, please complete the following assignments.

Although Excel is primarily used in business and scientific applications, you will find it useful in other areas of study as well. In these exercises, we will use Excel to create charts using historical data.

Charting Historical Data (Comprehensive Review)

Download Data File: PR4 Data

Excel is an excellent tool for helping display and compare historical data over a range of time.  While housing construction has slowed in much of the country, some states and metropolitan areas continue to permit new homes at a significantly faster pace than others. In 2024, the national rate of new housing authorization stood at 10.1 units per 1,000 existing homes—down from 11.7 in 2022. Only 13 states saw an increase in the number of new housing units authorized compared to two years prior.

Task 1 – Top 15 States for New Housing Construction (2022 – 2024)

Follow the below steps to insert a Map Chart outlining top 15 states for new housing construction.

  1. Open the file named PR4 Data and then Save As PR4 New Homes.
  2. On the New Housing worksheet, select the range B3:C18. 
  3. Select the Insert tab, then the Map Chart tool in the Charts group.
  4. Move the Chart as a New Sheet.  Rename the sheet Map.
  5. Update the Chart Title to Top 15 States for New Home Construction (2024).
  6. From the Charts Element menu choose to display the Data Labels.
  7. From the Charts Element menu, turn off the Legend.  Turn on Data Labels.
  8. Prepare the worksheet for printing by changing the scaling to Fit Sheet on One Page.
  9. Save your work.

Task 2 – Comparing New Housing Construction (2022 – 2024)

  1. On the New Housing sheet, select B3:D18.
  2. From the Insert tab choose Recommend Charts. Select the Clustered Column chart.
  3. Move the chart to a new sheet. Name the sheet New Housing Comparison.
  4. Update the Chart Title to 2022-2024 New Build Comparison of Top States.

Task 3 – Median Home Prices in Top States for New Housing

  1. On the New Housing sheet, select B3:B18. Press and hold the CTRL key and select D3:D18.

Mac Users: hold down the “Command” key not the CTRL key

  1. From the Insert tab choose Recommend Charts. Select the Clustered Column chart.
  2. Move the chart to a new sheet. Name the sheet Median Price – 2024.
  3. Update the Chart Title to Median Home Price – 2024.

  1. Check the spelling on all of the worksheets and make any necessary changes. Save the PR4 New Homesworkbook.
  2. Submit the PR4 New Homes workbook as directed by your instructor.

Attribution

“4.5 Chapter Practice” by Hallie Puncochar and Noreen Brown, Portland Community College is licensed under CC BY 4.0

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Excel for Contractors Copyright © by Barbara Lave; Nick Bredleau; Hallie Puncochar; Julie Romey; Mary Schatz; and Art Schneider is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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