Maximizing Treats with Feature Engineering and Excel Functions
I love treats: beef jerky, peanut butter biscuits, salmon jerky, chicken, blueberries - you name it! To get more treats, I decided to analyze my walking data using feature engineering in Excel. This helps me maximize my treat rewards while maintaining my fitness.
First, let's gather our walking data. We use a fitness watch and a custom script to retrieve the last 3 months of walking data. Analyzing this data helps us understand how to get more treats while walking the least amount possible.(for our dataset click the link here.)
Step 1: Adding Day of the Week Using TEXT Function
To add the day of the week to our data, use the Excel TEXT function. In cell F3, type =TEXT(A3,"DDDD") to convert the date to the full day name. For abbreviations, use "DDD". Drag the formula down to fill the column.
Step 2: Identifying Weekends Using IF Function
Next, identify if the day is a weekend with an IF function. In cell G3, type =IF(F3="Saturday","Yes",IF(F3="Sunday","Yes","No")). This formula checks the day and returns "Yes" if it's a weekend, otherwise "No".
Step 3: Converting Distance to Miles
Convert your distance data from meters to miles. In cell L1, enter 1609 for the conversion factor. Then, in cell H3, type =ROUND(D3/$L$1,2) to convert and round to two decimal places.
Step 4: Checking Step Count Goals
Check if the step count goal was met. In cell I3, type =IF(C3>E3,"Yes","No") to compare the step count with the goal.
After all this hard work, I definitely deserve a treat! Follow along in this series for more updates on visualizing and analyzing this data to maximize treat rewards.
