Open Office Calc (Ersatz Excel) formula

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on using Open Office Calc to determine the ranking of teams based on their scores, addressing the challenge of handling ties. The built-in statistical function "RANK" is identified as a solution for calculating standings, allowing for future-proofing against varying team numbers. Participants emphasize the importance of detecting ties and suggest that implicit rankings can be intuitive for users. The conversation highlights the need for elegant visualizations while maintaining original data order.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Open Office Calc functions
  • Familiarity with statistical ranking concepts
  • Knowledge of handling duplicate values in datasets
  • Basic skills in data visualization techniques
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore the "RANK" function in Open Office Calc
  • Learn how to handle ties in ranking algorithms
  • Research data visualization best practices for ranking data
  • Investigate dynamic array formulas for flexible data management
USEFUL FOR

This discussion is beneficial for data analysts, spreadsheet users, and anyone looking to implement ranking systems in Open Office Calc while managing ties and ensuring clarity in data presentation.

DaveC426913
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TL;DR
I want a column in my score chart that displays ... "standings"
I want a column that displays what standing each team has. (I can't really Google a solution because I don't even know what to call it.)

This the idea:
- team 1 is "1st",
- teams 3 and 10 are "2nd",
- team 5 is 3rd,
etc.:

1646952264124.png


I can't think of a way of doing it that isn't very complex, involving some sort of text array ("1st", "2nd", etc.) where the top one gets knocked off each time it's used.

A simple sort descending won't work since there's duplicates (3 and 10 are tied for 2nd).
Also, I'd like to make it future-proof - meaning I can't count on the number of teams always being 10.

Maybe I can simplify it by only calculating up to 4th, but Still...
 
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I must be misunderstanding. Why can't you just sort the array according to column AI ?
 
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hutchphd said:
I must be misunderstanding. Why can't you just sort the array according to column AI ?
1646955141009.png
 
That ... was not what I was expecting.

I can't think of any excuses that don't sound stupid when they emerge from my face.
 
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DaveC426913 said:
I want a column that displays what standing each team has.
It looks like there's a statistical function, "rank", that does this.
 
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PeterDonis said:
It looks like there's a statistical function, "rank", that does this.
That's exactly what I needed. I never occurred to me it might be built in.

But I think I may go with hutch's solution. It's actually the righter thing to do.
 
DaveC426913 said:
That ... was not what I was expecting.

I can't think of any excuses that don't sound stupid when they emerge from my face.
Don't feel bad. It happens to all of us from time to time.
 
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DaveC426913 said:
I think I may go with hutch's solution. It's actually the righter thing to do.
If all you want is to have the data sorted by rank, yes.

If you actually want the numeric rank explicitly, just sorting the array doesn't tell you that by itself. You still have to detect ties.
 
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PeterDonis said:
If all you want is to have the data sorted by rank, yes.

If you actually want the numeric rank explicitly, just sorting the array doesn't tell you that by itself. You still have to detect ties.
Yeah, I'm OK with implicit rank. It's pretty intuitive to readers. People are used to scanning a list of ranking still they find their own.

I was just stuck with the presupposition of keeping the teams in their original order, blinding me to more elegant visualizations.
 

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