CS110 – Personal Computing 1

EXCEL CONCEPTS

CS-110Personal Computing

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet - collection of text and numbers laid out in a rectangular grid

Workbook – collection of spreadsheets or sheets

Worksheet – contains data, laid out in rows and columns

Chart sheet - contains charts or visual representations of spreadsheet data

Sheets

Sheet tabs – lower left-hand corner of the workbook window

Active sheet – sheet being currently displayed

Row headings – used to identify each row in a sheet, done by numbers

Column headings – used to identify each column, done by letters

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Cells

Cell – Rows and columns intersect at a single location

Cells are identified their column and row location (i.e. A2 or B4).

These are called the cell reference

The cell you are working in is called the active cell

Spreadsheet screenshot

Information in a cell

Formula bar

Displays the contents of the active cell

Types of data

Numeric

Used in a mathematical calculation

Text

String of characters

Date and time

Many differing formats for date and time

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Types of data

Columns and Rows

Pixel is a single point on a monitor

A point is 1/72 of an inch

Columns have a width

Described in terms of number of characters that can be displayed in a standard font

Default is 64 pixels or 8.43 characters

Rows have a height

Default is 20 pixels or 15 points

Either can be changed or set

Cell Ranges

A cell range is a group of cells

Adjacent range

Rectangular block of cells

Non-adjacent range

Two or more adjacent ranges

Can include as many adjacent ranges as you want

Range reference

Size and location of a range

A1:C4; D8:F8

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Cell ranges

Selecting a range

Adjacent range

Click in the corner of the range (and hold)

Drag the mouse to the opposite corner

Non-adjacent ranges

Perform the actions for adjacent range

Hold down the CNTL key

Repeat actions for each adjacent range

Formulas

A formula is an expression that returns a value

Number

Text string

Every formula begins with an = sign

Most common are arithmetic operators

=5+4

=54/12

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References

Formulas can contain cell references

=A1 + B1

References can be relative or absolute

=$A$1 + B3

Copy and paste treats differently

Absolute references are not updated

Relative references are updated

Copying relative references

Pasting relative references

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Copying absolute references

Pasting absolute references

Precedence rules

How is the following evaluated?

=A1+A2*A3

Turns out the multiplication is evaluated first

Order of precedence rules

Parenthesis rule

Multiplication/division before addition/subtraction

Left to right

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Examples

Examples - parenthesis

Functions

A function is a named operation that returns a value =A1+A2+A3+A4+A5

=SUM(A1:A5)

Common functions are on the AutoSum Sum

Average

Count

Max

Min

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AutoSum

From AutoSum

References

Absolute vs. relative

Same as formulas

Putting a $ in front of it makes it absolute

Note – you can split it

Make part of the ref relative/absolute

=SUM (A$1:B1)

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Copying a relative ref.

Pasting a relative address

Copying an absolute

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Pasting an absolute

Copying a mixed

Pasting a mixed ref.

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Pasting a mixed ref.

Function categories

Financial

Amortization, coupons

Logical

IF, TRUE

Text

Length, Upper

Lookup & reference

Column, Row, Transpose

Math & Trig

More on next slides

Other

Statistical

Engineering

Information

Compatibility

Date and time

More on next slide

Date functions

DATE (year, month, day)

Returns a date value for the arguments

DAY(date)

Returns the day of the month

WEEKDAY (date, [return_type])

Returns the day of the week as an integer

return_type will define the scale

If return_type = 1, scale is (1=Sunday, 2=Monday, etc)

If return_type = 2, scale is (1=Monday, 2=Tuesday, etc)

There are other return_types

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Function arguments

Function_Name (argument1, argument2)

Arguments

Mandatory

Required for the function to return a value

Optional

Not required, but provide additional control

Default

Provide a default value

Returning the date type

What is the date type?

Internal way for Excel to store dates

Allows everything to be stored in a common way

Allows follow-on functions to handle the date

When you enter a date, does the conversion for you

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Passing date type to function

Conversion

Weekday (default arg)

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WEEKDAY (optional arg)

Math function examples

AVERAGE

COUNT

INT

MAX

MIN

MEDIAN

RAND()

ROUND

AutoFill

Quick way to copy and paste a formula

Uses the small square in the lower-right corner of a cell

Called the Fill Handle

Drag the fill handle over adjacent range

Excel copies the formula into the range

Also copies the formatting

Also has a AutoFill Options

Appears after you release the mouse

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Series

If you enter:

Jan in A1

Feb in A2

What do you expect in A3-12 ?

Series are based on a pattern

Assume for now Excel can figure out the pattern

AutoFill will complete the series

Formatting spreadsheets

Spreadsheets have many of same formatting characteristics as Word and PowerPoint

Themes

Common across Word, PowerPoint, Excel

Overall colors, fonts, and effects

Styles

Choosing how different colors, fonts, effects are combined

Backgrounds

Printing spreadsheets

Again, many of same characteristics as Word and PowerPoint

Page breaks

Headers and footers

Margins

Can select a print area

All or part of a spreadsheet

Can modify scaling

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References

1. http://office.microsoft.com