22 Excel Basics

Excel

A Brief Overview

What is a Spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet is a document that is entirely made up of rows and columns. It is used to list and analyze data.

Editing and formatting – Excel works much like the tables in MS Word

Formulas and functions – Excel allows you to perform calculations and analyze data. Common calculations include: finding the sum, average or total number of items in a listCreating Charts and Graphs – You can

create colorful charts and graphs from the data in your worksheet. Excel will automatically update the chart to display any changes you make in your data.

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=sum(B6:B23)

=AVERAGE(F4:F8)

=count(B2:B25)

The Excel Window

ROW 3

COLUMN F

Columnlabels

Row labels

Worksheet tabs

Active CellF3

Fill handle

Menu barTool bar

Formula Bar

gridlines

The Active Cell

The active cell is indicated by a dark outline, and the column letter and row number in the headers are raised.

The worksheet is a grid of columns (designated by letters) and rows (designated by numbers). The letters and numbers of the columns and rows (called labels) are displayed in gray buttons across the top and left side of the worksheet. The intersection of a column and a row is called a cell. Each cell on the spreadsheet has a cell address that is the column letter and the row number. Cells can contain either text, numbers, or mathematical formulas.

Entering Data

When you enter data, the characters appear simultaneously in the Formula Bar and cell. The characters do not actually go into the cell until you press Enter or Tab.

To enter data into a cell, first click the cell in which you want to enter your information. Then type the data in either the cell or Formula Bar and press Enter or Tab.

Pressing Enter moves you to the next cell down, while pressing Tab moves you to the next cell to the right.

When working with cells, your mouse pointer becomes a plus icon

Resize a Column

In a cell, text can be any combination of numbers, spaces, and non-numeric characters.

If the entered text exceeds the column width it will overlap the boundary into the next column when that column is blank. If the next column already contains data, text that does not fit in the cell is hidden.

Clicking the cell, however, reveals its entire contents in the Formula Bar.

To increase column width, drag the right side of the column header with the double-headed pointer.

To make the column width fit the contents of its widest cell, double-click the boundary on the right side of the column

Insert/delete a row or column

To insert:

Select a column to the right of where you want to insert a new one.

Or select a row beneath where you want to insert a new one.

From the INSERT menu choose row or column. If you want to insert more than one, select more than one column or row.

To delete:

Select either the row or column you wish to delete and press the del key or choose “delete” from the EDIT menu. You can also access

all of these commands from the context menu -RIGHT CLICK!!

Move or Copy Data

• Drag and drop to move selected data

Grab any edge with your cursor and drag

You can copy and paste by selecting cells – right click to cut or copy

Select either the exact number of cells to paste into – or just the very first one

– right click to paste

Format Your Worksheet

•Select a column

•Select a row

•To select the entire worksheet click upper left corner

Formatting your spreadsheet is very similar to formatting in Word.

Many of the same commands work in both.

Remember that before you do any formatting, you must SELECT (highlight) the items to be formatted.

•To select individual cells, just click on them

•To select adjacent cells. Click and drag to include them

•To select several cells which are not adjacent, hold down the Ctrl key and click on each cell to include.

Formatting Dialog Box

This dialog box is very similar to what you learned about in MS Word. You should be able to experiment with the tools found on each of the tabs.

Change Number Format

One of the tabs in the format dialog box is new. It is the FORMAT NUMBER tab.Because Excel is all about numbers and calculations, this section makes it easy to use the right type of number for the job!

Remember to select the cells, columns, rows or entire spreadsheet before you choose the format for you numbers or dates.

Clearing Cells

• Cells can be cleared of just the contents or just the formatting – or both.

•If you select a cell and press the delete key, the contents only will be deleted.

Choose

Edit Clear

Fill – down, across, series

• In the lower right hand corner of the active cell is Excel’s “fill handle”.• When you hold your mouse over the top of it, your cursor will turn to a

crosshair.• If you have just one cell selected, if you click and drag to fill down a column

or across a row, it will copy that number or text to each of the other cells.

• If you have two cells selected, Excel will fill in a SERIES. It will complete the pattern. For example, if you

– Put 4 and 8 in two cells– Select them– Click and drag the fill handle – Excel will continue the pattern with 12,16,20.etc.

• Excel can also autofill series of dates, times, days of the week, months

ACTIVE CELL FILL HANDLE

FormulasFormulas are entered in the worksheet cell and must begin with an equal sign "=". The formula then includes the addresses of the cells whose values will be manipulated with appropriate operands placed in between. After the formula is typed into the cell, the calculation executes immediately and the formula itself is visible in the formula bar. See the example below to view the formula for calculating the sub total for a number of textbooks. The formula multiplies the quantity and price of each textbook and adds the subtotal for each book.

There are four basic Mathematical Operators when writing a formula. These operators are used to tell the formula what action to perform. The following table lists the operators, its symbol.

The next table lists the order of operation for each mathematical operator. As you begin to write your formulas, keep in mind that information in parenthesis ( ) is always performed first while everything outside the parenthesis is performed left to right.

Operator Operation Order of CalculationAND, OR, NOT Logic Test: AND, OR, NOT 1+ or - Positive or Negative Value 2^ Exponentiation 3* or / Multiplication or Division 4+ - Addition or Subtraction 5& Text Concatenation 6

Logic Test 7= Equal to 7<> Not Equal To 7<= Less than or Equal to 7>= Greater than or Equal to 7

Operation Symbol

Symbol Name

Addition + Plus Sign

Subtraction - Dash or hyphen

Multiplication * Asterisk

Division / Forward slash

Formula Operators

Functions

• Built-in Excel Functions can be a faster way of doing mathematical operations than formulas.

• Example- if you wanted to add the values of cells D1 through D10, you could type the formula "=D1+D2+D3+D4+D5+D6+D7+D8+D9+D10".

• A shorter way would be to use the SUM function and simply type "=SUM(D1:D10)".

Function Example Description

SUM =SUM(A1:A100) finds the sum of cells A1 through A100

AVERAGE =AVERAGE(B1:B10) finds the average of cells B1 through B10

MAX =MAX(C1:C100) returns the highest number from cells C1 through C100

MIN =MIN(D1:D100) returns the lowest number from cells D1 through D100

SQRT =SQRT(D10) finds the square root of the value in cell D10

TODAY =TODAY() returns the current date (leave the parentheses empty)

SUM( ) function

The SUM( ) function is probably the most common function in Excel. It adds a range of numbers. To build a SUM( ) function, begin by typing the = sign; all functions begin with the = sign. Next type the word SUM followed by an open parenthesis. You must now tell Excel which cells to sum. Using the mouse, click and drag over the range of cells you wish to add. A dotted outline will appear around the cells and the cell range will be displayed in the formula bar. When you have the correct cells selected, release the mouse button, type a closing parenthesis and press the <Enter> key.

If you do not want to use the mouse, type in the references of the cells you want to sum. For example, to add cells B3 through B5, type =SUM(B3:B5). Excel interprets B3:B5 as the range of cells from B3 to B5.

Click the Insert Function button on the formula bar.

The Insert Function dialog box opens

In the Search for a function box, type a description of what you want to do.

Excel has hundreds of prewritten formulas which make it easy to do complex procedures with numbers, dates, times, text, and more.

Insert Function

•Type a brief description of what you want to do in the Search for a function box. In this example, you could type "mortgage payment" or some other keywords.

•Click Go.

Tips•You can also select a function category in the Or select a category box. This action will display a list of related functions, which you can then browse through.

•If you'd like help on how to enter the arguments, you could type the function name in the Search for a function box and click OK.

AutoSum

AutoSum button

In Excel, the standard toolbar has a button that simplifies adding a column or row of numbers. The AutoSum button, which resembles the Greek letter Sigma (shown above), automatically creates a SUM( ) function. When you click the AutoSum button Excel creates a sum function for the column of numbers directly above or the row of numbers to the left. Excel pastes the SUM( ) function and the range to sum into the formula bar. If the range is not correct, simply select the proper range with your mouse on the worksheet. When you have the correct range entered, press the <Enter> key to complete the function.

Autofilling Functions

Autofill can also be used to copy functions. In the example below, column A and column B each contain lists of numbers and column C contains the sums of columns A and B for each row. The function in cell C2 would be "=SUM(A2:B2)". This function can then be copied to the remaining cells of column C by activating cell C2 and dragging the handle down to fill in the remaining cells. The autofill feature will automatically update the row numbers as shown below if the cells are reference relatively

Cell Reference

There are two basic types of cell references in Excel: relative and absolute. The difference between absolute and relative cell references becomes apparent when you copy formulas from one cell to another. When you copy a formula containing relative references, the references are adjusted to reflect the new location. Absolute references always refer to the same cell, regardless of where the formula is copied. Relative references are the default.

To create an absolute reference, type $ before each part of the cell address.

Relative / Absolute

This shows the formulas used to create the order form below.

We used the fill handle which usually gives us the relative reference.

For the sales tax calculation we needed to use the absolute reference in cell C9

Relative Absolute

To toggle between seeing the formulas and seeing the results, hold down the Ctrl key and press the tilde ~

Merge cells

A shortcut to merge cells and center data is the icon on the formatting toolbar.

Select the cells you want to merge and click the icon on the toolbar

The Auto Calculate Space

Select any cells with numbers in them, the sum of those numbers automatically display in the “auto Calc” space.

Printing TipsTo only print a small part of your spreadsheet

–Highlight the area you want to print–From the FILE menu –choose PRINT AREA–Set print area

Page Set Up TipsTwo handy items in the PAGE SETUP dialog box (under the FILE menu)

Fit to ___ pages

Excel will fit your document into the number of pages you specify. If you are working on a chart or diagram that is just a bit over the size for a page, checking the “fit to” button will shrink your document proportionally to fit.

Print your document without those pesky grey gridlines by unchecking the button on the “Sheet” tab of the page setup dialog box.

Charts

A chart is a graphic representation of data. Charts are often used to make large quantities of data more easily understandable, and recognizable on first view. Charts represent data in different ways depending on the type of data that is presented.

Buffalo Seminary / School Districts

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Amherst Buffalo Clarence East Aurora Kenton Orchard Park Williamsville other


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Amherst

Buffalo

Clarence

East Aurora

Kenton

Orchard Park

Williamsville

other

Sem girls come from all over Western New York

Chart Wizard

Select all the cells containing the data you want to chart.

Click the Chart Wizard button on the Standard toolbar.

The Chart Wizard will present a selection of chart types, each of which includes several subtypes. If none of these options suits your needs, you can click the Custom Types tab to access a list of specialized chart types.

Click Next, and the Chart Wizard will present a screen verifying the range of data you want to include in your chart. You can change the range if necessary—just click in your worksheet and drag to select the appropriate cells.

Click Next again, and the Chart Wizard will present options that govern which elements are included in your chart. For instance, you can click the Titles tab and enter a title for the chart and for the chart axes.

Click Next once more to advance to the Chart Wizard’s final screen. Here you can specify whether to insert the chart on its own chart sheet or embed it on a worksheet. If you select the first option, type a new sheet name in the As New Sheet: text box. If you select the second option, just use the As Object In: drop-down list to choose the sheet where you want the chart to appear. (The current sheet is the default.) After you make a selection, click Finish. Excel will create your new chart.

After you’ve created a chart, you can still modify any specification made while running the Chart Wizard. The Chart menu and the Chart toolbar, which appear whenever a chart or chart sheet is selected, include options that correspond to the choices the Wizard offers. You can also click the Chart Wizard button to run the wizard again and revise their original choices.

You can right click to format any item on your chart. The format dialog box should be familiar to you by now!

Technology

22 Excel Basics