4.6.2 Data Reduction

See related video: Data Reduction

Data already existing in a worksheet can be reduced in size using various tools in Origin. The following table provides a summary of available tools. These tools are all accessible from the Analysis: Data Manipulation menu or Worksheet menu when a worksheet is active. Note that some of the tools are also available when a graph window is active.

Tool	X-Function Name	Description
Reduce to Evenly Spaced X	reduce_ex	Works on a single XY Curve. Allows creating reduced output with evenly spaced X values. Uses interpolation before reduction if input data is not evenly spaced.
Reduce Duplicate X Data	reducedup	Works on a single XY Curve. Reduces all XY pairs where X values are duplicated, allowing for options on how to handle the Y values. See also the menu item Worksheet: Remove Duplicated Rows which works with text data as well.
Reduce Rows	wdelrows reducerows wreducerows	wdelrows:Works on all or partial columns of the worksheet. A specified number of rows will be skipped each time to reduce the data size. reducerows:Works with a selection of columns. Replaces every N data points with specified basic statistics value such as average. wreducerows:Works on all or partial columns of the worksheet. This X-Function combines the features of wdelrows and reducerows.
Reduce Columns	wreducecols	Works on all or partial columns of the worksheet and reduces worksheet columns by deleting or statistically merging.
Reduce by Group	reducexy	Works on a single XY curve. Allows grouping the data by a number of groups, every N points, or by X increment, and then allows replacing X and Y by quantities such as mean, minimum and maximum. Merging Y values by averaging is sometimes referred to as "Boxcar Averaging."

Data can also be reduced upon importing a file into a worksheet. The Options Dialog for specific file types, as well as the Import Wizard provide controls for Partial Import where user can import n rows and skip m rows and repeat the pattern, to reduce data size. Later the file can be re-imported in full if desired.