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TU CMAT Masters study materials
TU CMAT Masters study resources

TU CMAT Masters: Computational and Analytical Skills: Statistics, Ratios, and Spreadsheet-Style Data Handling

TU CMAT Masters · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Computational and Analytical Skills: Statistics, Ratios, and Spreadsheet-Style Data Handling

Computational and Analytical Skills tests the everyday numeracy behind management study: summarizing data, comparing ratios, reading tables, and writing or interpreting spreadsheet-style formulas. It overlaps with quantitative ability but emphasises data handling and formula logic more than pure algebra.

Core rules

  • Measures of location. Mean = sum ÷ count; median = middle value after sorting; mode = most frequent value. The mean is pulled by outliers, the median is resistant.
  • Weighted averages. Multiply each value by its weight, sum, then divide by the total weight. Do not average averages unless the group sizes are equal.
  • Ratios and percentage change. Scale ratios to a common total. Percentage change = (new − old) ÷ old × 100. Percentage points compare two percentages; percent compares a change.
  • Spreadsheet references. A relative reference such as A1 changes when copied; an absolute reference such as $A$1 does not. Mixed references lock only the row or only the column.
  • Common functions. SUM adds, AVERAGE ignores blank cells, COUNT counts numeric cells, COUNTA counts non-empty cells, COUNTIF counts with a condition, SUMIF adds with a condition, IF returns one value or another, and VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP retrieves a value from a table.
  • Data discipline. Check text-versus-number formats, duplicates, missing values, and units before calculating.

Worked example

A sheet has 10, 20, 30, 40 in B2:B5 and weights 1, 2, 3, 4 in C2:C5. Weighted average = (10×1 + 20×2 + 30×3 + 40×4) ÷ 10 = 300 ÷ 10 = 30. The simple average is 25; weighting raises it because larger values carry more weight. The formula =SUMPRODUCT(B2:B5,C2:C5)/SUM(C2:C5) returns 30.

Traps

  • Averaging percentages from groups of different sizes without weighting.
  • Copying a formula and losing the intended fixed reference.
  • Treating numbers stored as text as numeric; COUNTA counts them but SUM may ignore them.
  • Dividing by zero or by a blank cell in a ratio.

Exam focus

Practise reading a small table and computing mean, median, and percentage change. Learn the difference between COUNT, COUNTA, and COUNTIF.