Presentation of numerical data

Although all results are computed to high precision, they are presented only to a practical number of decimal places based on the numerical precision of the data.

To decide how many decimal places to present the results to Analyse-it uses the Excel number format you apply to the data. From the format, the precision you are working with is inferred, and therefore the precision you likely expect in the presentation of the statistics. Statistics such as the mean, median, and standard deviation are presented to one more decimal place than the source data.

Although the statistics are presented to only a few decimal places, the Excel cell contains the full precision value. You should use the full precision value to minimize error when using it in another calculation.

If you are preparing an analysis for presentation you can set the Excel number format applied to a cell containing a statistic on the analysis report. Do not format results if you intend to edit or recalculate the analysis as your formatting changes will be lost when you update the report.