I often find myself having a hard time explaining what a financial model is because to me, it could be almost anything.
That said, I’ll set aside the financial part today and show you a very simple Excel model, useful for those of us who have kids in elementary school. It’s my personal version of the random cards you might have at home to help the kids learn their alphabet or addition tables.
The model is rather simple. You have one column with all the possible elements and next to it, another with the formula =RAND(), which gives you a random number between 0 and 1 at each recalculation. Then you simply have to look up the letter next to the smallest value. Each time you want to change the letter, you simply need to press F9. Excel will then recalculate all RAND() formulas. You can see it in action demonstrated in the picture below.
You can download it here (file size: 101 KB). It also includes an addition table. I’ll let you work out the multiplication table.
Have fun!
Update
There is a new version of the file with Jim Carson’s suggestion of adding random colors to the letters. Thanks Jim!
2 Comments
Being the father of a 5 year old, I know that the use of colors can help keep the attention of a young learner, so I used conditional formatting in the (giant) output cell in order to vary the colors based on one of the random #s …
For example, “Formula is” =D20.75 …. AND(D2>.50,D2<.75), for conditions 1, 2 and 3 will give you 4 possible colours (I chose basic blue, red and green, with the default left at black for the values not covered by the formulas).
Drop me an email if you want me to send you back a revised .xls.
Cheers,
J
Jim, that’s an awesome idea you had.
If I ever have to design an elementary school curriculum, I’m hiring you
I’ve updated the file with your suggestion with two slight variation. I’ve added the option to have the colors or not. Also, for the 3 conditions you don’t need to put AND(D2>.50,D2<.75), D2<.75 is sufficient if the conditions are in proper order.
i.e.:
Condition 1: <0.25 is evaluated — if it is TRUE, then it stops and format is applied
Condition 2: <0.50 is evaluated — if it is TRUE, then it stops and format is applied
Condition 3: <0.75 is evaluated — if it is TRUE, then it stops and format is applied
If you're using Excel 2007, you need to check "Stop if True" for each conditions in the "Conditional Formating – Manage Rules…" dialog.
Oh! I also changed the reference cell to a new one because I didn't want the bias of always having the letter A in blue.