Power Query is a tool in Excel that allows you to import data from a wide variety of sources, and manipulate that data to meet your needs. For example, you can:

  1. Import a CSV file on your computer
  2. Import a table from a web page
  3. Import data from an online database

In addition to importing data to Excel, Power Query is designed to “transform” data. You can easily do things like remove columns or rows, rename and reorder columns, split columns, add new columns, fix date problems, join tables, and much more.

The beauty of Power Query is that each step is defined separately in a query. When you “refresh” the data, all steps will be automatically repeated in exactly the same order.

You can find Power Query tools on the Data tab of the ribbon:

Power Query tools on the Data tab of the ribbon - 1

Key benefits

Power Query has a vast set of features that are updated frequently. In a nutshell, here are a few key benefits:

  • Import data of all kinds directly into Excel with a modern and robust tool.
  • Refresh data directly in the Excel workbook. No need to navigate back to a website and download data manually.
  • Define specific steps to retrieve, clean, and reshape data. These steps will be repeated, in order, each time data is refreshed.
  • Drop data into an Excel Table to analyze with formulas, pivot tables, and charts.

Power Query Examples

These articles have sample workbooks with simple queries already set up:

  • Tracking COVID-19 with Excel (more detail)
  • Download Coronavirus data to Excel (3 more datasets)

Radians are a system of measuring angles. A full rotation in radians is equal to 2π where a full rotation in degrees is 360°. In Excel, the trigonometric functions such as COS, SIN and TAN, expect input provided in radians.

Convert Degrees to Radians

To convert an angle in degrees to radians, multiply the angle by PI()/180 or use the RADIANS function. For example, to convert 60 degrees to radians, you can use either formula below:

=60*PI()/180 // Returns 1.047 radians
=RADIANS(60) // Returns 1.047 radians

Definition of Radians

Radians Definition - 2

Geometrically, the angle formed by one radian is equal to the amount of rotation required to travel the length of the radius along the circumference of the circle. The angle formed by this system is independent of the size of the circle. A full rotation in radians is equal to 2π or approximately 6.283. In Excel, the value of a full rotation is given by the formula below:

=2*PI() // Returns 6.2831853071

The value for a full rotation in radians can be calculated by dividing the circumference of any circle by its radius. See wumbo.net for a more detailed explanation of radians and other math concepts.

Common Angles

Common Angles Degrees and Radians - 3

The PI or RADIANS function can be used to measure equivalent angles in the degrees and radians systems. The geometric constant π, whose value is returned from the PI function, represents a half-rotation in radians. Some common angles are shown below in the formulas:

=RADIANS( 90)=PI()/2
=RADIANS(180)=PI()
=RADIANS(270)=3*PI()/2
=RADIANS(360)=2*PI()

Notes

  • The RADIANS function converts degrees to radians
  • The DEGREES function converts radians to degrees
  • One full rotation in radians is equal to 2*PI()