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can i tally in excel ?

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    can i tally in excel ?

    hi there, i'm a support assistant at a school and the kids are using excel to put in some data that they've recorded . they're counting in 'tally' ie 4 ones then a line through them for the fifth number . is it possible to replicate this in excel or do they have to just write five ones, as it were thanks in advance

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    Quote Originally Posted by chrisy
    hi there, i'm a support assistant at a school and the kids are using excel to put in some data that they've recorded . they're counting in 'tally' ie 4 ones then a line through them for the fifth number . is it possible to replicate this in excel or do they have to just write five ones, as it were thanks in advance
    Hi

    COUNTIF function may work for your purpose

    see the link below for use of above function
    http://www.contextures.com/xlFunctions04.html#CountIf

    you can search Excel help for further assistance about COUNTIF function.

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    ok thanks...i will try it

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    Forum Expert Carim's Avatar
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    Hi,

    4 times "I" can be counted with countif() ...
    But the last fith line which crosses them horizontally ... certainly not ...
    How is the last bar added ... ? is it drawn as a line on top of "IIII" ...?
    HTH
    Carim


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  5. #5
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    Just an idea, I dont know if it is possible or not.

    I know you can strike through a cell with "borders". Maybe theres a way to have that cell us an (on click) function to strike through, and once done, be recognized as 5.

    What would be even cooler is an (on click) function that would allow you to click 5 times instead of 4 1's + cross out. Again just an idea, Im a nublet.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by chrisy
    hi there, i'm a support assistant at a school and the kids are using excel to put in some data that they've recorded . they're counting in 'tally' ie 4 ones then a line through them for the fifth number . is it possible to replicate this in excel or do they have to just write five ones, as it were thanks in advance
    Hi,

    the main problem with 'tally' (also known as the 'Gate' system because of it's likeness to a 5-bar gate) is that you tick or enter the values in one spot (or cell) the 5th being the diagonal 'cross' to signify that this set is complete and to start a new 'tally' or set, the total of tallys (counted in 5's) then shows the number of items present. The method is ideal for counting (say) sheep wandering past, or boxes being loaded. It is also useful for tally of more than one type, black sheep and white sheep, red boxes and green boxes etc, thus more than one 'tally' or set may be in progress at a time.

    To tally in Excel using a single cell as the 'tally' one must remember that the nature of an Excel cell is that when you enter the second '1' the first is overwritten (that is, assuming you are not retaining the input until 5 '1's are pressed and then pressing <Enter>)
    When the third '1' is pressed then the previous contents are lost etc.

    As the main purpose of 'tally' is to make totalling easier it would seem a waste to expend the effort to install and maintain a tally system, this would involve VB code to capture entry into a cell (the current tally), count up to 5 '1's and represent that as a 1111 with a diagonal (bottom left to top right) border, then bar any further entry to that cell until the tally were completed and cleared.

    A Spin button, to increment a cell, or a Button which counted +1 to a cell would keep a count, and would require only one cell for it's task (the tally would require one cell for each 5 counted to emulate the manual system)

    Alternately the Spin button or Button could set the tally, but that again might require a column (or row) of cells to maintain the tally (symbol) count.

    An example is attached.

    hth
    ---
    Attached Files Attached Files
    Last edited by Bryan Hessey; 01-13-2007 at 07:59 AM.
    Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

  7. #7
    Forum Expert Carim's Avatar
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    Hi,

    Attached is my "tally" proposal ...

    Let me know if it is OK for you ... and the kids ...
    Attached Files Attached Files
    Last edited by Carim; 01-13-2007 at 11:23 AM.

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