ENGR 179EXCEL for Scientists and Engineers

Lecture 1: Fall 2004

Instructor:Sherman Wiggin

What is a spreadsheet?•It is a computerized grid designed to do mathematical and statistical calculations and sort lists of information.

What are some basic spreadsheet capabilities?

•In addition to calculations, they are handy for making quick charts and graphs, along with performing database operations.

Cells, Worksheets, Workbooks• Worksheets are made up of cells. These

cells have addresses by Column and Row. A cell in column B and row 5 is called B5.

• Worksheets can have a maximum of 256 columns and 65,536 rows.

• Workbooks are made Up of a maximum of 256 worksheets

Cell References

• Cell in column C and row 7 C7• Range of cells C1 through C10

C1:C10• Range of cells B6 through K6 B6:K6• All cells in row 10 10:10• All cells in rows 1 through 10 1:10• All cells in column F F:F• All cells in columns A to E A:E• Absolute cell reference C3 $C$3• Paste Link Function

Numbers, Text, Formulas

Formula for D7 is shown in Formula Bar

Formula Entry

• =1+1 (addition)• =2-1 (subtraction)• =4*3 (multiplication)• =12/3 (division)• =3^2 (exponent)• =(B7/B9)*10 (cell formula structure)• =EXCEL function (cell values)

Useful Worksheet Functions

• =SUM(B9:B20) (adds up cells in range)• =AVERAGE(A1:A20)• =MEDIAN(1,4,5,6,A9) • =ROUNDDOWN(29.123,1)• =ROUNDUP(A8,0)• =INT(C29)• =SIN(45*PI()/180)• =COS(30*PI()/180)• =CONVERT(number,from_unit,to_unit)• =exp(1) ( )

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Worksheet Set Up

• Use separate worksheets for data files and calculations

• Use either embedded charts or separate chart sheets

• Use descriptive tabs for worksheets• Use comments on cells• Use cell inputs at the top of the

worksheet

Importing Data Files

• Delimited (Character separation: tab, space, comma…)

• Data type (text, date, number…)• Cut and paste operations• Data Sort Function

Graphing Results

• XY scatter charts• Line charts• Column and bar charts• Pie charts• Trend line• Curve fitting (polynomial fit)• Formatting Charts

Next…

• Next meeting we will look at how to use Excel to solve simple integral and derivative problems.

• Then moving into the basic problem solving applications (Physics, Statics, etc…)