Data manipulation can be defined freely as activity to generate a new data or derive it from existing one. The purpose of data manipulation can be to improve data display, adding information or generate random data. GIS softwares have capabilities in data manipulation spatially. However, we often prefer doing data manipulation in software we familiar most. MS Excel for example. Therefore, we try to discuss some function in MS Excel for data manipulation as follow.
Random Function
Random function has a syntax =RAND()
The function above generate a number ranges between 0 and 1. For example, we need to generate a dummy trees diameter from 0 to 40cm, then we can use syntax =RAND()*40. See the following figure.
In most cases, the lowest number of the range is not equal to zerro. As an illustration, we may need random tree diameters range between 40cm and 60cm, then we can use syntax =(RAND()*(60-40)+40). See the following figure for the formula in action.
