Excel

Spreadsheet basics

Excel Sheets and Books

Spreadsheet: tool to analyze, chart and manage data for personal, business and financial use Worksheet: individual sheet within a

workbook, default name Sheet1, default total 3 sheets

Workbook: spreadsheet file, default name Book1, extension .xls

Interface The spreadsheet is laid out as a grid of rows

and columns. Columns are vertical and are labeled with

letters. Rows are horizontal and are labeled with

numbers. Cells are the intersection of columns and

rows.

The Excel Window

The name box

The active cell

The formula bar

Sheet tabs

The cell

The basic unit of a spreadsheet is a cell, it is rectangular shaped.

Cells are used as containers. A cell is referenced by letter/number,

such as: A3, K908 Numbers, text or formulas can be

stored in a cell.

Entering data into a cell Data is entered into the active cell by

typing or pasting it. The data appears both in the cell and in the

formula bar Pressing Enter, Tab or an arrow key

completes the entry. No other work can be done until the entry

of data into a cell is completed. Editing cells

Changing the data stored in a cell go to the active cell, double click in cell, or hit F2

or go to the formula bar

Data types

Excel determines if the data entered is numeric, text or formula.

If the data entered is only numbers (in correct form) the data is numeric.

If the data contains any non number characters the data is treated as text.

If the data entry starts with an “=“ the data is a formula.

Formula Data

A formula is a math expression the spreadsheet calculates and show the result of in the cell where the formula is stored.

All formulas begin with an “=“ sign. The math operators are:

Multiplication * Division / Addition + Subtraction –

Formula example Start a formula with

the equal sign Use cell references to

add the cells If you use the cell

reference instead of the number in the cell you can change the number and the answer will change

Note that Excel color codes the cells involved.