Frequency Distribution Table Using Pivot Table

Before follow along me with this whole blog post, download the working file from the
link below:

But using a pivot table to create an Excel frequency distribution Table is the easiest way.

Related: Excel Pivot Table Tutorials for Dummies [Step by Step]

The following figure shows part of a table. The table has a record of 221 students and
their test scores. Our goal is to separate the students according to a ten-point range (1–
10, 11–20, and so on).

We shall separate these students according to ten-point score range.

Creating a pivot table using this table is simple:

Step 1: Inserting Pivot Table

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Frequency Distribution Table Using Pivot Table
Select any cell within the table. Click on the Insert tab → In the Tables group of
commands choose PivotTable command → Create PivotTable dialog box appears.

In the Create PivotTable dialog box, the table name (in our case it is Table13) is
selected under Choose the data that you want to analyze. So our PivotTable will
analyze the data of Table13.

Under Choose where you want the PivotTable report to be placed, I

Create PivotTable dialog box.

Now click the OK button and you get a pivot table like the below image. On the left, you
find the blank pivot table report and on the right, you see the PivotTable Fields task
pane (I moved the task pane to place it by the side of the report).

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Frequency Distribution Table Using Pivot Table

Blank PivotTable Report and PivotTable Fields task pane.

PivotTable Fields task pane has two parts: on the left side, you will find the fields of
the table are listed (in our example only two fields Score and Student) and on the
right side, the areas where you can drag fields from the left side. There are four areas
where you can drag fields from the left side: Filters, Columns, Rows, and Values.

Step 2: Place the Score field in the Rows area

Place the Score field in the Rows area in the PivotTable Fields task pane. To place a
field in an area, you have to take your mouse pointer over the field; the mouse pointer
will turn into a four-headed black arrow icon. Now click on your mouse and drag until
you reach your area. When you are over the area, just release the mouse.

Or you can right click on a field, and then can choose the area from the drop down.

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Frequency Distribution Table Using Pivot Table

Right click on any field and from the drop down choose the area.

Step 3: Place the Student field in the Values area

In the above-mentioned way, now place the Student field in the Values area. Values
of Student field are summarized by counts and you get a pivot table report like the
below image:

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Frequency Distribution Table Using Pivot Table

Automatically Generated PivotTable Report.

Step 4: Grouping to get Ten-points Bin or Range

Now we're going to make a grouping of ten-point range (1–10, 11–20, and so on). Right-
click on any value in the Score field column in the pivot table, a shortcut menu will
appear. Choose Group from the options of the shortcut menu. Or while selecting a cell
under Row Labels column in the PivotTable report, you can click on
the ANALYZE contextual tab of PIVOTTABLE TOOLS ⇒ then in the Group group
of commands choose the Group Field command. Grouping dialog box will appear.

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Frequency Distribution Table Using Pivot Table

Choose Group from this shortcut menu. It appears when you right-click on any value in
Score field in the pivot table.

Step 5: Getting the Grouped Pivot Table

In the Grouping dialog box, you see the Starting at value is 27 as 27 is the lowest
value of the score field. I want to make a frequency distribution as 21-30, 31-40, 41-50,
and so on. So I enter 21 as the Starting at value. Suggested Ending at value is 100. It
is okay. By value is 10 as each bin will have 10 values.

Grouping dialog box. I have set 20, 100 and 10 as the Starting at, Ending at and By values
respectively.

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Frequency Distribution Table Using Pivot Table
I click OK button. We shall get a pivot table report like the following figure:

The PivotTable report you get after setting the Grouping values.

Step 6: Showing Items with No Data in the Pivot Table

By default, Excel will not display the values below 21 and above 100 as we have set
Starting at value as 21 and Ending at value as 100. But you can force to display the
empty bins. To display empty items, you have to right click on any cell under Row
Labels and choose Field Settings from the shortcut menu. In the Field
Settings dialog box, click the Layout & Print tab, and then select Show Items with
No Data. The following figure will make you clear how to display items with no data.

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Frequency Distribution Table Using Pivot Table

Follow these steps to show values <21 and >100.

But these step is just to show you a technique, you don't need to show these empty bins
when you work with frequency distribution table.

Histogram/Frequency Distribution Table & Graph

To get a frequency distribution graph from the above frequency distribution table, at
first select any cell within the table. Click on the Insert tab. In the Charts group of
commands, you see there is command named PivotChart. Click on the action part of this
command (the upper part), Insert Chart dialog box appears with the list of charts that
you can create. I select Clustered Column chart and click OK.

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Frequency Distribution Table Using Pivot Table

I select Clustered Column chart in the Insert Chart dialog box.

When I have clicked the OK button of the Insert Chart dialog box, I have got a chart
like the below:

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Frequency Distribution Table Using Pivot Table

The PivotChart I get from the left side PivotTable report.

Note:
We have used equal size range (1-10, 11-20, and so on) to create groups automatically in
our example. If you don’t want to group the items in equal sized ranges, you can create
your own groups. Say, you may want to assign letter grades (A+, A, B, C and so on)
based on the students' score. To do this type of grouping, select the rows for the first
group, right-click, and then choose Group from the shortcut menu. Repeat these steps
for each new group you want to create. Then change the default group names with more
meaningful names. Know more about how to group items in a pivot table.

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