Analyze Your Data · Lesson 1Free ~12 min · No code

From spreadsheet to answers.

You don't need to be an Excel wizard. This lesson drops a messy spreadsheet into AI and gets real answers in plain English — clean the data, ask real questions, and get answers with the reasoning shown so you can trust them. No formulas, no code.

The mental model

AI turns a spreadsheet into a conversation. You ask in plain English; it does the formulas and shows its work.

You used to need the right formula to ask a question of your data. Now you describe the question and AI writes the analysis, returns the answer, and explains how it got there. The skill that gets you ahead isn't being technical — it's knowing what to ask for.

The reframeMake it show its work. An answer with the reasoning shown is one you can check; a number with no explanation is one you have to take on faith. Always ask how it got there.

Step 01 · Clean the messy sheet first

Real spreadsheets are messy — blank rows, mixed date formats, "N/A" vs empty, totals stuck in the data. Ask AI to clean before it analyzes:

Clean promptHere's my spreadsheet. Before analyzing, clean it: flag and handle blank rows, inconsistent date or number formats, duplicates, and any totals mixed into the data. Tell me what you changed and why, and ask me before deleting anything.

Step 02 · Ask it real questions

Here's a tiny sales sheet. Tap a question — watch AI answer in plain English, with its reasoning shown:

Month Jan 42k · Feb 38k · Mar 51k · Apr 47k · May 63k · Jun 59k

Step 03 · Trust the numbers

AI is fast but not infallible with data — it can misread a column, average the wrong thing, or quietly drop rows. Spot-check before you act:

Verify one number by hand before you trust the rest. Pick a figure you can check (a single month's total) and confirm AI got it right. If the easy one is correct and the reasoning is sound, you can trust the harder ones. And keep sensitive data general — don't paste names, account numbers, or anything you wouldn't email.

Your challenge: answer one real question

Drop a real (non-sensitive) spreadsheet into an AI that handles data.
Ask it to clean the sheet and tell you what it changed.
Ask two real questions in plain English, reasoning shown.
Hand-check one number before you trust the rest.

✓

Lesson complete

You can clean messy data without formulas, ask a spreadsheet questions in plain English, get answers with the reasoning shown, and verify the output before trusting it.

Up next

Lesson 2 · Insights & charts that tell the story

Continue to Lesson 2 →

Open the Playground Back to Analyze Your Data