Define a pivot table

Answer 1

It is hard to describe a pivot table in a simple manner, without showing one. It is a good reporting tool which can sort, sum and count data, amongst other things, independent of the original data. It is a way to extract data from a long list of information, and present it in a readable form.

So you could have a list of data, with common types of information that you want to analyse more clearly and do things like get totals from it and subtotals, and count values and so on. You could use your list and with its data create a pivot table. You would still have the original data and then also have the pivot table. Once you have it you can manipulate it quickly in lots of ways, to get all sorts of information from it.

You could have something like a list of salesmen who work in a number of different areas and sell different kinds of products. There could be more than one in each area, and more than one selling each kind of product. You might want to find out things like how many of each product was sold in total, or how much money was made from all sales in one area, or how many salesmen sell each product. There are all sorts of things that a pivot table will allow you to do very quickly and allow you to change very quickly.

To create one, first you need you list of original data. Then you would select that data, and go to the Data menu. There you will find the options for creating the pivot table. Excel will give a little assistance in the process of creating one. They are a bit complicated to start with, but with a bit of practice, you will get used to using them and know how and when to use them. Check out the link below from Wikipedia which has a simple example on it. You will also find help in Excel itself and there are lots of resources and examples on the internet about them.

Answer 2

A pivot table in Microsoft Excel is a tool you can use to summarize large amounts of repetitive, tabular data. It was originally known as a "cross-tabulation" or "cross-tab", but the name "Pivot Table" was developed to indicate that it was much easier to re-arrange your summary table in any number of ways without needing to rebuild the crosstab from scratch.