Microsoft Office: Excel

WEEK 12-14: SPREAD SHEETS

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that helps you record, analyze, and calculate data. The power of Excel comes from its ability to eliminate repetitive calculations and automatically update data to reflect changes you’ve made. Excel also allows you to organize and present your data using a variety of graphs and charts.

Spreadsheets can be used for

·      Budgeting

·      Calculations

·      Analyzing Data

·      Statistical methods

OPENING EXCEL

·      Click start button on the window task bar

·      Select programs on the menu

·      Click Microsoft office and then select Microsoft excel 2007

Excel opens and displays an empty workbook. Precisely what you see on the screen depends on the types of the monitor you are using.

EXCEL SCREEN

The first blank workbook displayed by EXCEL is called Book1. A new workbook usually has three worksheets labeled Sheet1, Sheet2 and Sheet3, but more can add if required. Only of an excel worksheet is visible on the screen at any one time. This is because of the restriction due to the size of the computer monitor.

The bulk of the screen displayed is made up with the worksheets which are divided into rows (with heading 1, 2, 3, 4 …..) and columns (with headings A, B, C… AA, AB… IV). Although you can not see them at the same time, there are 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns. This means that there are millions individual cells in one worksheet. However the number you can use at any time is limited by the amount of memory in the computer.

At the top of the Excel workspace is the title bar displaying Microsoft excel followed by the name of the current workbook.

 PARTS OF EXCEL SPREADSHEET

1.  WORKBOOK: Each excel file is called a workbook; a workbook is the main document you use to store and work with data. It contain many sheets, and you can therefore organize various kinds of related information on certain topic on different sheets in a single file
2. WORKSHEET: Each workbook contain worksheets, a worksheet consists of cells organized into columns and rows. It is also called spreadsheet. You will use worksheets to store and analyses data. You can enter and edit data on several worksheets at the same time and perform calculations based on data from multiple worksheets.
3. CELL: Each worksheet contains cells, a cell is a combination of columns and rows 

WORKSHEET OPERATIONS

Sometimes you may want to have more sheets than that available by default. More over, there are certain operations associated with sheets that you need to know.

Clicking any sheet tab with the right mouse button will display a shortcut menu.

CELL REFERENCE

On the worksheet, the rectangular area where row and column intersect is known as a cell. Each cell has a reference identified by its column and row headings. For examples:

            A1 represents the cell in column A and row 1 

            F10 represents the cell in column F and row 10

The cell that is currently active, A1, has bold outline

Moving the Active Cell

Cell selection and movement around the worksheet are similar operations in Excel. To select a given cell or make it active, simply click on that cell. Use the mouse or the arrow keys to move around the worksheet. For example, if you press the right arrow key twice you move two cells to the right. Refer to the table below for additional information on using the keyboard to navigate a worksheet.

POINTER SHAPES

SHAPE	IMPLICATTION	ACTION
	The default point shape	Moves cell pointer or select
	Appears when the pointer is on a border (column, row, or window). When adjusting row height, the arrows point up and down. When adjusting column width, the arrows point right to left	Adjusts the column width, row height, or window size
	Appears when you are editing the contents of a cell.	Moves the insertion point within the cell
	Appears when you have a graphic that may be moved.	Moves the selected graphic to the new location.
	Appears when you are pointing to the border of a cell.	Moves the selected cell to a new location
	Appears when you are at the "fill corner" of a cell or range of cells.	AutoFills other cells with similar information

ENTERING DATA

Data can be text or numeric. Text is defined as any combination of numbers and letters. Numeric entries are limited to numbers. Numbers can exist as independent values or as values derived from a formula (Calculated values).

ENTERING TEXT

Text will automatically align to the left in the cell. If the length of the text is greater than the width of the column, it will appear as if it were occupying adjacent cells.

To enter text

IF FUNCTION

Returns one value if a condition you specify evaluates to TRUE and another value if it evaluates to FALSE.

Use IF to conduct conditional tests on values and formulas.

Syntax

IF(logical_test,value_if_true,value_if_false)

Logical_test   is any value or expression that can be evaluated to TRUE or FALSE. For example, A10=100 is a logical expression; if the value in cell A10 is equal to 100, the expression evaluates to TRUE. Otherwise, the expression evaluates to FALSE. This argument can use any comparison calculation operator..

Value_if_true   is the value that is returned if logical_test is TRUE. For example, if this argument is the text string "Within budget" and the logical_test argument evaluates to TRUE, then the IF function displays the text "Within budget". If logical_test is TRUE and value_if_true is blank, this argument returns 0 (zero). To display the word TRUE, use the logical value TRUE for this argument. Value_if_true can be another formula.

Value_if_false   is the value that is returned if logical_test is FALSE. For example, if this argument is the text string "Over budget" and the logical_test argument evaluates to FALSE, then the IF function displays the text "Over budget". If logical_test is FALSE and value_if_false is omitted, (that is, after value_if_true, there is no comma), then the logical value FALSE is returned. If logical_test is FALSE and value_if_false is blank (that is, after value_if_true, there is a comma followed by the closing parenthesis), then the value 0 (zero) is returned. Value_if_false can be another formula.