Learning the New 365 Excel Functions

We are in the age of constant learning and unlearning, but it sure is hard to keep up.

Lately, I’ve been trying to learn Python (for data science and AI purposes – just to understand those fields), learn ChatGPT/Bing AI, and learn the new Microsoft stuff that is exploding out of that company.

It is really daunting to keep up. Typically, I’ve been good at learning stuff and doing the exploration, compared to the average person, but the latest barrage of new technologies kind of pushes the boundaries of my capabilities. I do wonder how others are handing this barrage.

Some statistics have come out of my readings, and unfortunately, I did not keep the articles. I just did a search and found a Pew Research Center article and I think that is the one I read because the numbers seem familiar.

This article was written on May 24, so about a month ago. At that time, roughly 58% of US had heard of ChatGPT since it first exploded on the scene at the end of November 2022.

• 42% have heard nothing about ChatGPT, which is kind of shocking. It makes me think of living under a rock.
• The more education one has, the more likely one has heard of ChatGPT. About 79% with postgraduate degrees have heard something whereas 71% with bachelor degrees have heard. It then dips to 41% for those with high school graduation.
• Same kind of trend happens with income: those with more income are more likely to have heard about ChatGPT.

Here’s the shocker: only 14% have used ChatGPT!

If only that many have used it, how are we keeping up with technology? Are they learning other stuff and thus don’t have time to deal with ChatGPT and its peers?

To go back to my original topic on learning and unlearning during this era of constant technology innovations, we might eventually reach some form of fatigue in trying to keep up with all of the changes and innovations.

Right now, Microsoft has been dishing out change after change after change. Their Microsoft Edge has changed to include the Bing AI which is kind of a nice feature. Office 365 is coming up with a lot of changes to incorporate AI, but that hasn’t come out yet to the public yet (maybe to just a few paying customers), but I hear a lot about CoPilot. I now hear that Power BI now has a CoPilot component as well as a new thing called Fabric. There is Image creator and Microsoft Designer which I’ve played a little.

Because of all of these changes, I’ve recently upgraded my Excel to learn about those new Excel functions that Microsoft has created: XLOOKUP, UNIQUE, FILTER. Just those alone are really neat. I recently took a course from Oz du Soleil about Excel functions so that I could learn about what is new. There are a couple of things I want to try out, but I need the right conditions, problems and data before I can really use them.

I do want to explore using LET and IMAGE. Those are intriguing functions.

Finally, about those new functions: I could have used those a long time ago! Where were they?

I do wonder how those Excel experts keep up. They are on top of the new stuff and know how to use them. But how do they do that?

Of course, I’m playing with ChatGPT and Bing AI to see how I can make use of them. Right now, I don’t see how I could use them for work without inputting proprietary information. Right now, the results seem to be rife with bad information, so I’m a bit hesitant to use fully for work.

Otherwise, things are moving too fast for me to keep up. I had to take time out from Python to learn about these new Excel features. Now that I have taken the course, I’m going to be going back to Python. I hope I have forgotten everything in Python.

I need to get back to maintaining my schedule on learning Python.

There’s a lot going on. I wonder how everybody is keeping up.