Excel What-if Analysis

by David Slager

The real power behind Excel is its ability to perform What-If Analysis. It can serve as a decision making model. It can be used to test a wide variety of scenarios simply and quickly. It allows you to test different scenarios before they actually happen or before you implement them. You can perform What-If Analysis to determine such things as “if the price of gas went up 20 cents per gallon by how much would that decrease my profit” or “if I extend my loan payments from 15 years to 20 years by how much will that affect my monthly payments, total payments, and total interest”, or “if I raise the price of the product I am selling will that increase or decrease my profits”. What-if analysis is basically the process of changing the values in cells to see how those changes will affect the outcome of formulas.This book covers the four kinds of Excel what-if analysis tools, Scenarios, Data Tables, Goal Seek and Solver. Let's face it, it is very difficult to view graphics and follow along with practice programs from an eReader therefore a link is provided to a site where you can download the practice files and accompanying instructions.

108 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2014