Analysis of Wind Speed Data Using Excel for Environmental Engineering

This report presents an analysis of wind speed data collected over a year in a rural area of Scotland. The analysis utilizes Excel to process hourly wind speed measurements. The report begins with an introduction to the coursework, followed by a detailed explanation of the methodology. The wind speed range is divided into equal speed bands, and a frequency distribution table is created to count the occurrences within each band. A histogram is generated to visualize the data distribution. Descriptive statistics, including the mean, median, and mode, are calculated and analyzed to understand the central tendency and skewness of the wind speed data. The report concludes with a discussion of the findings, emphasizing the use of mathematical software for efficient and accurate data analysis. The results indicate a right-skewed distribution, with the median being the best measure of central tendency. Excel's role in simplifying complex calculations with a large dataset is highlighted.

Introduction
Statistical methods are applied to data to show a summary representation of its form. It involves the
collection of data, from which descriptive statistics are calculated. Examples of descriptive statistics
include the mean, variance, median, modes etc. Graphs can also be used to show patterns of the sample
distribution (Lumen Learning, 2019).
In this assignment, I show how statistical methods may be used analyze data on the realistic wind speed
data obtained over a year using excel. In the next section, I present a summary of the descriptive
statistics, graphs, and an analysis of results.
Summary Statistics
i Frequency Distribution Table
speed band
lower upper Frequency
1 0.0 1.5 323
2 1.5 3.0 945
3 3.0 4.5 1364
4 4.5 6.0 1479
5 6.0 7.5 1551
6 7.5 9.0 1179
7 9.0 10.5 784
8 10.5 12.0 426
9 12.0 13.5 272
10 13.5 15.0 145
11 15.0 16.5 93
12 16.5 18.0 129
13 18.0 19.5 40
14 19.5 21.0 14
15 21.0 22.5 3
16 22.5 24.0 0
17 24.0 25.5 3
18 25.5 27.0 1
19 27.0 28.5 3
20 28.5 30.0 1
21 30.0 31.5 3
22 31.5 33.0 2
ii Histogram

1.5
3.0
4.5
6.0
7.5
9.0
10.5
12.0
13.5
15.0
16.5
18.0
19.5
21.0
22.5
24.0
25.5
27.0
28.5
30.0
31.5
33.0
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
Histogram
Frequency
iii
Mean wind speed. 6.7087
Median wind speed. 6.3036
Mode wind speed. 7.4205
Analysis
i. Frequency Table
Based on the frequency distribution table, we observe that most of the wind speeds lie between 0m/s
and 18m/s, with majority in the range of 6-7.5m/s.
ii. Histogram
Histograms are used to show the pattern of a sample. In other words they give a sense of the center
of location of the data and the general nature of the distribution of observations.
From the histogram we observe that the distribution of the wind speeds is rightly skewed. Hence, this is
not a normally distributed sample.
Iii. Mean, median and Mode
The mean, median and mode measure the central tendency of data. The mean is the average of the data
set and is the most common statistics. The median is the value that appears in the middle of the data set

when it is arranged from the lowest to the highest. The mode is the value that appears the most (Laerd
Statistics, 2019).
From the calculated statistics, we observe the mean of the sample observations is higher than the
median of the same. Hence, the sample is skewed to the right. In this case, median should be used as
the best measure of central tendency.
Iv. Use of mathematical software
For this assignment, excel has been used to calculate the statistics and draw the graphs. The data
provided consists of over 8000 observations. Therefore, using hand calculations would take a long time
to solve the problem.
Mathematical software such as Excel, SPSS etc. reduces the time it takes to calculate statistics.
Furthermore, scope for errors, which are common in hand calculations, are reduced significantly.
Conclusion
Graphs and descriptive statistics, such as the mean, mode and median, can be used to show the patterns
of the nature of the sample. Mathematical software including excel, assists in accurate and fast
calculations.
References
Laerd Statistics, 2019. Measures of Central Tendency. [Online]
Available at: https://statistics.laerd.com/statistical-guides/measures-central-tendency-mean-mode-
median.php
Lumen Learning, 2019. Introduction to Statistics and Statistical Thinking. [Online]
Available at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-statistics/chapter/overview/