An Introduction to

Microsoft Excel

©Mathematics Centre 1999

 Introduction to Microsoft Excel for Windows

Introduction to spreadsheets

It is generally accepted that software applications are fashioned after the existing method which
they are meant to replace. Spreadsheets were invented in 1978, by Dan Bricklin, at Harvard
Business School U.S.A. Bricklin was writing BASIC programs that would perform financial
calculations. The problem was that these programs had to be written and rewritten for each new
problem. Bricklin`s Production professor described to him large blackboards that were used in
some companies for production planning. Some of these blackboards were so long that they
spanned several rooms, each one being segmented into a matrix of rows and columns. This gave
him the idea for implementing a similar system on a computer, which eventually became the
world`s first spreadsheet - VisiCalc. The rows and columns intersect to form what we call cells.
These cells hold any information that we want to associate with them, whether that be numbers,
text or formulae and we shall soon see how to enter this information.

The range of tasks that can be performed with modern spreadsheet packages has increased
enormously since the early days. The basic ideas of cells, rows and columns are still the same but
the more sophisticated spreadsheets such as EXCEL now have comprehensive facilities for
mathematical, statistical and business calculations as well as for drawing a wide variety of graphs
and charts.

Format of a Spreadsheet

Each column and row has a heading. Columns have letter headings (alphabetically organised), eg
A, B, C and so on. Rows have number headings, arranged in ascending order, 1,2,3,.... We use
these headings like a grid reference on a map - we call this a cell reference. Thus the first cell in
our worksheet is A1 (column A, row 1). Similarly, cell B4 refers to the intersection of column B
and row 4, as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1: Cell References

These cells can hold two distinct types of information: constants and formulae. A constant is an
item that does not change unless you delete or edit it, eg a number, some text, the date or the
time. A formula, on the other hand, depends on other values stored in cells in the worksheet and
uses them to calculate a new value. For example, the Excel formula =A1+F15 adds the values
from cells A1 and F15, and displays the result in the cell in which this formula is entered.

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Getting to grips with the screen layout

If you`ve ever used Windows or Windows applications before, then you are probably fairly
familiar with the screen that you see when you first start up Excel. Even so, like any other
program, Excel has its own special features and icons that you may not recognise. Within Excel`s
window, you can have three types of "document window": worksheets, charts and macro sheets.
Each Excel5 file consists of a workbook containing initially 3 worksheets (more can be added).
Worksheets hold and display your data and formulae as well as graphic objects (eg charts).
Charts use the data from a worksheet and display it as a graph. Macro sheets store macros which
we use to make our working life easier. Macros give spreadsheet users a programming
environment, allowing many operations to be done with just a single command, or at a single key
press. However they are beyond the scope of this document.
Application Control Button Title Bar Menu Bar Minimise Button

Application
Close Button

Tool Bar
Formatting Bar
Reference Window

Select All

Formula Bar
Active Cell

Vertical Scroll
Document Window Bar

Row Headings

Drawing Tool Bar Scroll Bar Arrowheads

Page Scroll Horizontal Scroll Bar

Status Bar

Figure 2: The Excel Screen Layout

The screen is essentially made up of distinct sections: Title bar, Menu bar, Toolbar, Format bar,
Formula bar, Application Window, Document Window, Select All button, Active cell (and also
optionally, the Drawing Tool bar)and the Status bar. The title bar is self explanatory: the title
bar of the application window shows the name of the program (Microsoft Excel).

The title bar for the document window displays the active workbook's filename (ie what it was
last saved as; if you have just started Excel for the first time, then this will be Book1). The menu
bar shows the command menus available for the active document.

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Figure 3: Menu bar

The toolbar is the strip of buttons immediately below the menu bar. These are here to make life
as easy as possible. You can carry out common commands quickly by simply clicking on the
appropriate button.

Figure 4: The tool bar

The function of each button is displayed simply by pointing the arrow at the button (not pressing
any of the mouse keys) as shown in figure 4.

Figure 5: The format bar

The format bar is the strip of buttons immediately below the tool bar and like the tool bar, the
function of each button can be displayed by pointing the arrow at the button as shown in figure 5.

Move the arrow cursor over all the icons in turn to find out
what each one does. DO NOT PRESS THE MOUSE KEYS.

Just underneath the format bar is the formula bar which displays information about the active
cell. The active cell is a single cell that you have selected by itself or a single cell within a
selected group of cells. It has a dark border around it.

Figure 7: Active cell

At the bottom of the workspace is the page scroll bar and beneath that is the status bar. The status
bar gives a short description of the current command or the current status of Excel.
TIP! Always keep your eye on this bar as it may contain useful information on what Excel is
currently expecting you to do: you might like to think of it as an Autocue...

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If the Drawing Tool bar is displayed it will usually appear between the page scroll bar and the
status bar.

In the upper left corner of the worksheet window/document, there is a select all button, which
you use to select all the cells in the worksheet.

Figure 8: Select all button

Entering text or numbers

Note that on entering Excel the active cell has a border around it and the cursor is denoted by a
white cross, as shown in figure 9.

Figure 9: Active cell and cursor

It doesn't matter if you are entering text or numbers: the procedure is exactly the same with these
three simple steps: (1) select the cell, (2) type the value, (3) press Enter. To select a cell as the
active cell you have a choice of two methods: using the mouse or using the keyboard. If you use
the mouse, simply move the cursor to the cell that you wish to select and click the left mouse
button. If you want to use the keyboard, then simply use the arrow keys to move around the
worksheet

Try it now! Use the arrow keys to move right. Make a note of what happens. Now move
down the worksheet. Again, note what happens

Hopefully, you noticed that when the cursor reached the right hand side of the screen the whole
sheet moved to show another column. This is known as scrolling The same thing happens with
the rows. If you go too far, don't worry - simply hit the Ctrl + Home keys together and you will
be returned to cell A1. Scrolling can also be achieved using the mouse in conjunction with the
horizontal and vertical scroll bars. Using the mouse, move the cursor to the right hand arrow
head of the horizontal scroll bar and hold down the left hand mouse key. Note that the
spreadsheet scrolls to the right. Now try the same thing with the other arrow heads of the
horizontal and vertical scroll bars.

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Excel stores the text as you type, even if it can`t fit it all inside the cell (up to 255 characters
anyway). The characters appear in both the cell and the formula bar - but the cell only shows as
many characters as will fit. The formula bar shows the ACTUAL contents of the cell. If the cell
contains a formula, then the result is displayed in the cell and the formula that was used to derive
that result is displayed in the formula bar.

Now try moving the cursor to the border of the active cell. Two things may happen. At a
general point on the border the cursor changes from a white cross to a white arrow, as shown in
figure 10. This cursor allows cells to be moved easily, as we shall soon see.

Figure 10: Arrow cursor

At the bottom right hand corner of the active cell a small black square (with a white cross in it) is
displayed. This is known as the drag handle. If the cursor is moved to cover the drag handle it
changes from a white cross to a black cross, as shown in figure 11. This form of the cursor
allows blocks of cells to be highlighted, filled or copied, as we shall see.

Figure 11: Drag handle cursor

The best way of learning how these cell operations work is by doing them so we shall now enter
some text and see the effects of the various forms of cursor.

Make sure that cell A1 is the active cell and enter the text Sunday. The result should appear as in
figure 12.

Figure 12

Now move the cursor to cover the drag handle of cell A1, as shown in figure 13.

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Figure 13

With the left mouse key held down, drag the highlight along row 1 to cover cells A1 to G1.
Release the mouse key and the cells should be filled with text as shown in figure 14

Figure 14

Move the cursor and click on an empty cell to remove the highlight.

Note that column D is not wide enough for the whole of Wednesday. We may increase the
column width by making the cell containing Wednesday active (ie cell D1) and clicking on
Format in the menu bar. A drop-down menu appears and Column should be selected, as shown
in figure 15.

Figure 15: Format menu

If you wish to let Excel set the column width automatically select AutoFit Selection. If you
wish to set column widths yourself, highlight the desired columns by clicking on the column
headings then select Format then Column and then Width to produce the dialogue box of figure
16.

Figure 16

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Now highlight the block of cells containing the days of the week (A1 to G1) by moving the white
cross cursor to cell A1 and, holding down the left mouse key, dragging the highlight over the
required block of cells. Move the cursor to the bottom border of the block of cells, so that it
changes to a white arrow, as shown in figure 17.

Figure 17

Hold down the left mouse key and move the cursor to another point on the spreadsheet. Note
that an outline of the range of cells previously selected moves with the cursor, as shown in figure
18.

Figure 18

Release the mouse key and the block of text moves to the new position, as shown in figure 19.

Figure 19

Click on an empty cell to remove the highlight. Note that the column widths require readjusting.
This can be done as described earlier.

Finally we shall delete the text. Highlight the block of text in the usual way and, with the white
cross cursor within the block of cells, hold down the right mouse key. A drop down menu
appears, as shown in figure 20.

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Figure 20

Choose Clear Contents.

To illustrate further techniques as they are introduced, we are going to build up and graph a table
of typical values of the simple function y = x 2 .
First start with a new spreadsheet and put text headings in cells A1,A3 and B3 as shown in figure
22, (Note that the heading in A1 can stretch into the adjoining cells because these are empty)

Figure 22: Setting up Headings

Automatic Filling

We are going to calculate the values of x 2 for values of x from 0,1,2,3,....up to 20 and hence the
next thing that we need to do is to enter the numbers 0,1,2,3,...,20 in column A. A quick way of
achieving this is to enter 0 and 1 in cells A4 and A5 respectively and then to use automatic
filling. Once you have entered 0 and 1, highlight cells A4 and A5 by clicking on to cell A4 and,
with the left mouse key depressed, pull the cursor over the two cells. Now move the cursor to the
bottom right hand corner of the highlighted cells so that it changes from a white cross to a black
cross. This is the Auto Fill handle as shown in figure23.

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Figure 23: The Autofill handle

The AutoFill Handle

With the left - hand mouse key depressed, drag the AuotFill handle down to cell A24. Your
spreadsheet should now look like figure 24 :

Figure 24: Automatic Filling

Remove the highlight by moving the cursor to any cell outside this range and click the left - hand
mouse button. You have now used automatic filling to enter the required values.

Saving your work

You have put some effort into constructing your spreadsheet so far,and you are about to put a lot
more work into it. If the PC were suddenly to cease functioning because for example of a
network crash or a powercut, then all this hard work would be lost. To safeguard against this you
should save your work at frequent intervals. When you first start Excel, the title Book 1 appears
at the very top of the worksheet. Since you have already put some work into this worksheet, it is
worth saving now. To do this, click the left mouse button on File, and then move the mouse
down to Save As.

Figure 25: The File options

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Excel will automatically enter a name in the filename text box (Book1.xls in this case ). Delete
this name and give the file a more descriptive name such as xsquared.xls. You can omit the
file extension (.xls) as Excel automatically adds this for you.

You should save your work on to your own disk in the a: drive. To do this, before clicking on
Save in the Save As dialog box, you should change the directory to 3½ Floppy (A:). (NB, If you
save your work to the C: drive, it will almost certainly get lost).

Click on the the down arrow at the right hand side the the drop-down Save in list box

Figure 26: The Save As Dialog Box

A list of drives will then appear (NB The details of this list depend on which machine and
network you are working on, but 3½ Floppy (A:) should be included )

Figure 27: Specifying the 3½ Floppy (A:) drive

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Click on 3½ Floppy (A:), then click on Save and your work will be saved on to your disk with
your chosen file name.

From now on you should save your work frequently - perhaps every 5 minutes. Next time you
save, all you need to do is to click on File and then click on Save (rather than Save As). Or click

on the disk icon third from the left on the tool bar. No dialog box will appear since you
have already chosen the file name and directory.

Entering formulae

So far, we have considered mainly how to enter text and numbers into Excel, but the real power
of Excel is only utilised when you start entering formulae.

When you enter text or numbers, you are telling Excel to store and display exactly what you
type. When you enter a formula, you are telling Excel to do something with the values that you
type in - you asking it to evaluate the formula that you have typed and display the result inside
the cell, NOT the formula itself. Formulae can range from the very simple, such as getting the
contents of another cell or taking up a list of values and calculating the average.

A formula is entered in the same way as text or numbers except that a formula starts with an =
sign. Formulae normally involve references to values in other cells so that for example, placing
the formula

=A5 + A6

into cell B7 would result in B7 displaying the sum of the contents of A5 and A6. Although this is
not the calculation we eventually want to make, we can try this with our example spreadsheet,
and the result should be as in figure 28:

Figure 28: Result of a simple Formula

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Note that when B7 is highlighted, the formula that it contains is displayed in the formula bar, as
shown in figure 29.

Figure 29: The formula bar

The reference are changes to the paste function key when = is typed in .
The formula bar is itself made up of 5 different parts: the reference area (which changes to the
paste function drop-down box), Cancel button, Enter button, the Edit Formula button and the
entry area. When the = button is selected a drop down box showng the formula result is
displayed as shown in figure 30.

Figure 30: Formula result

The reference area shows the active cell`s row and column. The contents of the active cell are
displayed in the entry area. The entry area has a flashing vertical bar called the insertion point
which marks where the text you type will appear in the area. The enter button copies the
information from the entry area into the cell that we are working on. Pressing enter on the
keyboard has the same effect. The cancel button is like liquid paper - the cell contents revert to as
it was when you activated the formula bar. The Function Wizard will be discussed later.

You can make simple calculations which combine values stored in cells using a formula
involving the standard mathematical operators such as addition (+), subtraction (-),
multiplication (*) and division (/), along with various functions that we will discuss later. Listed
in table1 you will find a list of common operators and their order of precedence (remember
BODMAS?) ...

Operator Description
( ) Brackets. Expressions within brackets
are ALWAYS evaluated first
- Negation
^ Exponentiation (raising to a power)
* and / Multiplication and Division
+ and - Addition and Subtraction
Table 1: Operator Precedence in Excel

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Note that negation has a higher priority than exponentiation. To see the effect of this enter the
formula = -A7^2 in cell B7 and note the result.

Now that we have entered the x-values into our spreadsheet, we can move on and use a simple
formula to calculate the corresponding y-values.
To calculate the value of y corresponding to x = 0, enter the following formula in cell B4:

=A4^2.

The value of y corresponding to x=1 should now be displayed in B4.

Figure 31: A simple mathematical function

Copying Formulae

Copying formulae into adjacent cells is very straightforward. Highlight the cell containing the
formula to be copied. Move the cursor to the bottom right hand corner of the cell until the black
cross appears. This is identical to the AutoFill handle that we have already met, but we are now
using it as a copying handle. Now click on to the copying handle and drag it to highlight the cells
into which we require the formula to be copied (Note that the difference between this and auto
filling is that we are only starting off with one cell highlighted rather than two). Try this with cell
B4 and drag the copying handle to highlight B5 :

Figure 32: Copying the Formula

The formula has now been copied to cell B5. Highlight cell B5 on its own and have a look at the
formula it contains,shown in the formula bar. This should be as figure 33.

Figure 33: The Copied Formula

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Note that the cell reference A4 in the original formula entered in B4 has become A5 in the
copied formula in B5. Having seen how the copying works, we can now copy the formula down
the rest of the column to B23 :

Figure 34: Copying Down the Column

Built-in-Functions - The Paste Function

Excel, like most spreadsheets, has many commonly used mathematical, statistical and scientific
functions built in. In our example above we may wish to sum the values of x and also the values
of x 2 placing these sums in cells A25 and B25 respectively. To do this make cell A25 the active
cell and enter:
=SUM(A4:A24)

A4:A24 denotes the range of cells to which the function applies. The value 210 should appear.
Using the copy handle copy this formula to cell B25. Notice that cell B25 contains the function
=SUM(B4:B24), the value of which is 2870.

Figure 34: The Function Wizard

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All functions in Excel must begin with =. To access the full range of functions available, from

the formula bar or the tool bar click on the Paste Function, , as indicated in figure 34. The
dialogue box of figure 35 will appear.

Figure 35: Excel Paste Function Step 1

When you have selected the desired function click on OK to obtain the dialogue box of figure
36. Fill in as appropriate.

Figure 36: Excel Paste Function Step 2

Appendix 3 gives a fairly comprehensive list of the most useful functions.

An alternative method of inserting a standard function is to click on the edit function button on
the formula bar to get figure 37.

Figure 37
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Then click on the drop down function box to get figure 38.

Figure 38

Select the desired function from this box or select More Functions to display the Paste Function
box of figure 38 and proceed as before.

We will return to our example later on and see what can be done in terms of creating a graph of
this function. Before that we are going to look at how drawing graphs in EXCEL works by
considering a simple straight line graph. This will also give you a chance to practice some of the
cell operations you have used here on a different example. Make sure you save your worksheet
now for use later on. Start a new one by clicking on File and clicking on New.

Creating a graph

One of the most powerful uses of spreadsheets is in solving "What-if" calculations. However, if
we couple this with a spreadsheet's ability to produce high quality charts and graphs, then we can
actually see in a graphical form what effect changing our parameters makes to a function or
problem.

Let's create a simple spreadsheet to illustrate this point.

One of the simplest equations in mathematics is that of the straight line. This takes the form:
y = mx + c
where:
y = vertical coordinate
x = horizontal coordinate
m = the gradient (or slope) of the line
c = the intercept point (ie where it crosses the vertical axis).

We can produce a graph of this equation in the following way:

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1. Enter across the top of your new worksheet some headings, so that your sheet looks like the
one below.

Figure 39: Example headings

2. In cell A2 enter the value -10.

3. In cell A3, enter the value -9.
4. We can now use the AutoFill feature to fill in the values up to +10 . As a reminder:

• Highlight cells A2 and A3 by clicking on to cell A2 and, with the left mouse key
depressed, pull the cursor over the two cells

Column Headings

Dragged box
First two values AutoFill Handle
Figure 40: Starting the example

• Point at the AutoFill handle in the bottom right hand corner of the box that you have
just created and hold down the left mouse button again.
• Drag the AutoFill handle down the sheet (still holding down the left mouse button) until
the left-hand side of the formula bar contains the value 10. Then release the mouse
button. You should be in cell A22 (see figure 41).

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Keep the left

mouse button
depressed as you
drag down

AutoFill up to 10
(cell A22)

Figure 41: Using the AutoFill Feature

• The active cell is still A2 (according to the left hand side of the formula bar)and so if
you press the right arrow key on the keyboard, you will move into cell B2.

5. In cell B2, enter the formula for y=mx+c. Column B will be y, so we have to enter a formula
that represents mx+c. Cell C2 will hold m while cell D2 will hold c. Column A, as previously
mentioned holds our x values. Our first reaction, then, would be to enter the following
formula:
=C2*A2+D2
Although this is correct, it won't actually work when we want to copy cells. This is because it
uses something known as relative addressing. When you copy this formula, the reference to
all the cells will move. Obviously though, the cells where m and c are contained we do not
want to move. To do this, we use a technique known as absolute addressing, which is
accomplished by using the $ symbol in the cell reference. The actual formula to enter into
cell B2 is then:
=C$2*A2+D$2
and then press Enter.

6. Now we need to copy this formula down the column. This time we are going to do the
copying in a slightly different way. Highlight cell B2, and press the right-mouse button once.
A short-cut menu will appear over the cell. this menu allows you to do many things, such as
Copy, Move, Cut, Paste, Erase and even alter the appearance of the cell.

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Figure 42: The right-mouse button shortcut menu

7. Select Copy from this menu by simply clicking on it with the left mouse button. A marquee
will appear around the cell, indicating that it has been pasted onto the clipboard.
8. Move the mouse down to cell B3, press and hold down the left mouse button to drag a box
down to cell B22. Release the mouse button and press Enter. The column will be filled with
the formula (which evaluates to zero at the moment). B3 is now the active cell.
For this example, the method of copying is exactly equivalent to highlighting B2 and
dragging the copying handle down to B22. If however the cells we were copying into were
not next to the one we were copying from, then we would have to do the copying by this
second method.

9. Goto cell C2 and type in the value 2, which is the slope of our graph.

10. Goto cell D2 and type in the value 2, which is the intercept of our graph.

Now column B is recalculated with the values for m and c, hence generating the y coordinates for
our graph.

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Figure 43: The example spreadsheet

In Excel charts can either be created as separate sheets or as part of a worksheet. We will
consider the latter case only here. In either case we use the ChartWizard (the icon of which is
on the toolbar).

1. Highlight the cells A1:B22, being the range containing the x and y values that we wish to
graph (this is not absolutely necessary at this stage).

2. Click on the ChartWizard icon.

3. A window will appear such as the one below which shows which range you are going to plot.

Figure 44: ChartWizard - Cart Type

4. The next window appears (figure 45), offering you a selection of graph types. Click on XY
(Scatter) since we are interested in plotting x against y values.

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Figure 45: ChartWizard - Step 1 of 4

5. You are presented with a menu of different Scatter graph types. Click on the type as shown.

6. Click on the "Next" button.

7. You are now shown what your graph is going to look like. Check to make sure that the
correct Data Series are selected and that they are in Columns.

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Figure 46: ChartWizard - Series Details

8. Click on the Series tab at the top of the box to get figure 47.

Figure 47: Checking the Data Series

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9. Click on the "Next" button.

10. The next window shown in figure 48 allows you to add some text to the graph i.e. titles and
legends etc.

Figure 48: ChartWizard - Titles and Legend Text etc.

11. Click on the white box under Chart Title and type " Graph of Straight Line Equation "

12. Type x in the white box by Category [X]:

13. Type "y = mx + c " in the white box by Value[Y]:

14. Click on Next for Figure 49.

Figure 49: Chart Location

15. Select As object in Sheet1 and then select Finish.

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Figure 50: Completed Chart

The chart should now appear in the spreadsheet. Although this is what we wanted, the
presentation still needs tidying up, and we will draw a line in rather than just the data points.

Editing a Graph (or Chart)

Any feature of a chart can be edited simply by pointing at it and clicking on it with the left hand
mouse key to select it and then (with the curser still on the selected item) pressing the right hand
mouse key to display a (short cut) menu relating to the selected item. Follow the steps below to
obtain a more usable graph than that of figure 50:

1. Click on one of the data points with the left mouse button. This selects the Data Series.

2. Click the right mouse button and the menu of figure 51 should appear.

Figure 51: Shortcut chart menu

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3. Click on Format Data Series so that Figure 52 appears, then click on Automatic, under
Line. You can alter the appearance and colour of the line here also, should you so wish.

Figure 52: Pattern Selection dialog box

4. Under Marker, you can alter the colour and appearance of the marker points on the graph
also. We are going to leave them as they are.

5. Click on OK.

Your screen should look something like the one below...

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Figure 53: The end result!

An alternative method of editing a chart is via the chart edit tool bar as shown in figure 54. This
can be displayed by selecting View followed by Toolbars then placing a tick against Chart in
the resulting menu.

Figure 54: Chart editing toolbar

The various features of the chart can be selected by clicking on the drop-down arrow. This
approach is left as an exercise for the reader.

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Now alter the values of m and c and investigate what happens to the graph. If you make m (the
slope) negative, what happens to the graph? What about increasing and decreasing c?
Of course, we are not only limited to producing straight line graphs. You might like to have a
look at producing a graph for the following simple equations:

y = axn

y = abx

y = aebx

Where: a, b and n are all constants

x is the horizontal position
y is the vertical position

If you do tackle these, then don't forget that you might need to re-scale the axes, or even choose
different values for x (in column A). Again, you should investigate what happens when you alter
a,b and n.

You may also need to use the on-line HELP facility to find out which function you need for e.

Graphing y = x 2

Armed now with a basic knowledge of how to plot graphs using the chart wizard, we can go back
to our previous work y = x 2 .
If you want to keep your straight line graph, then make sure the worksheet is saved on your disk
in the a: drive under a suitable name. You should of course have been regularly saving it anyway
as you went along.
Now reload the xsquared.xls worksheet by clicking on File, Open and then highlighting it from
the list of names presented.
Highlight the block of cells containing the x and corresponding y-values. Click on the chart
wizard. Follow the steps outlined by the chart wizard and use the dialogue boxes to produce a
chart as close as possible to figure 55.

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Figure 55: Graph of y = x 2

Adding a Second Graph to an Existing Graph

We have just created and customised the graph of y = x 2 , as shown in figure 49. Suppose, now
we wished to add the graph of y = 300e −0.1x to it. Firstly we need to calculate the values of y
corresponding to x = 0,1,2,3,......,20 on the spreadsheet. Returning to the spreadsheet
xsquared.xls, make cell C4 active and enter the formula:

=300*EXP(-0.1*A4).

then use the copy handle to copy the formula to cells C5:C24. Your spreadsheet should now look
something like figure 52.

Figure 56

Now highlight cells C4:C24 move the cursor to the edge of the highlighed area until it changes
to a white arrow then, with the left-hand mouse key pressed pull this arrow into the centre of the
chart (see figure 57) and release the mouse key.

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Figure 57

Alternatively, new data may be added to an existing graph by first clicking on the graph to select
it (note the black selection squares round the edge) then selecting Chart from the new menu then
selecting Add data to obtain the dialogue box of figure 58.

Figure 58

Fill in the dialogue box as indicated and click on OK.

Your graph (with legends) should look something like figure 59.

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Figure 59

In order to edit the legend move the arrow cursor so that it points at a symbol corresponding to
one data series as indicated, click once with the left hand mouse key to select the data series and
then keeping the cursor pointing at the symbol click the right hand mouse key and from the
resulting menu select Source Data then click on the Series tab so that the dialogue box looks
like figure 60.

Figure 60

Select the Series tab and then select Series1 click in the Name box and fill in as indicated.
Repeat the procedure with the other data series to obtain the completed graph of figure 61.

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Graph of y=x^2 and y=300exp(-0.1x)

450
400
350
300
250 y=x^2

y
200 y=300exp(-0.1x)
150
100
50
0
0 5 10 15 20

Figure 61

Printing

In order to print part of a spreadsheet highlight the range of cells you wish to be printed, select
, the set print area button, from the tool bar, then from the menu bar select File and then
Print Preview and, if you are satisfied with the preview, select Print. If the selected print area
contains a chart you must make sure that you select a printer that is able to cope with graphics.
To do this select File then Print and then Printer Setup and choose an appropriate printer.

If you wish to print just the chart, double click on the chart then, as before, select File then Print
Preview and, if all is well, Print.

If you wish to change the print area simply highlight the new area then click on the set print
area button.

You have now had experience in using the most common cell operations and graphing
techniques. EXCEL is a large and complex package and you will be gradually introduced to - or
find out for yourself - more of its features as you proceed in your course. A brief summary of
some of the most common operations are included in the appendices.

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APPENDIX 1

Cell Editing and Formatting

One aspect that can be very useful is the versatility provided in being able to re-size and re-
format cells. What follows now is a summary of some of the most useful cell editing and
formatting commands

• Insert / Delete Column: Click on a column heading (say B). The whole column appears
highlighted.

Figure 1.1: Column Selection

Now if you select the Edit menu at the top of the screen, you will be presented with a menu
of things you can do. Select Insert or Delete as appropriate, and a new column will appear (or
the old one will be removed).

Figure 1.2: The Edit Menu

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• Insert / Delete Rows: Click on a row heading (say row 4). The whole row appears
highlighted. Choose delete or insert (as required) from the edit menu, and the row numbers
will be adjusted accordingly.

• Copy and Paste: This is exactly as it sounds - a fast way of shifting cells around. Mark a
range of cells to be copied, and then choose the copy option (again from the edit menu),
which will place a copy of the cells onto the clipboard. Move to the first cell where the range
is to be copied to and choose the paste option.

• Column Width: You might find that you can't always fit enough information in the width of
a column. To alter the width of a column, you have two choices:
1. Move to the cell containing the longest word in the column. Choose ColumnWidth from
the Format menu, and either select AutoFit Selection or type the column width in
characters.

Figure1.3: The Format Menu

Figure1.4: Column Width Dialog Box

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2. Move up to the column headings, and point at the edge of the column which you wish to
alter the width of. The cursor will change into a cross with horizontal arrows on it. When
it does this, hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse left or right as required.
A dashed vertical line will show the width of the column altering as you move the mouse.
Once you are happy with the width, then release the mouse button.

• Clear Cell Contents: Select the cell or cells that you wish to clear and press the Delete
button on the keyboard (or select Clear from the Edit menu). This will bring up another
dialog box asking you what you wish to clear in the cell:

Figure1.5: The Clear Cell dialog box

The choices presented should be self explanatory except for notes which we have not come
across yet. Essentially they are a method of attaching a note to a cell to remind us about its
function.

• Alignment: Sometimes we want to centre or justify text. Mark the cells that you want to do
this in, and select Cells from the Format menu to obtain the dialogue box of figure 1.6. Then
select Alignment and choose which sort of alignment you want to use. The alternative to this
is to use the alignment tools on the standard toolbar - they serve exactly the same purpose
(and are quicker!).

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Figure 1.6: The Cell Alignment dialog box

• Number Format: Mark the cells that you wish to format and select Number from the Format
Cells dialogue box of figure 1.6 above to obtain figure 1.7. Select the format that the cell is to
take, eg currency, or date etc., and then select the format code (rather like a sub-menu where
you can choose the exact format of that type of category). Click on the OK button and your
cells will be formatted according to the style that you have just chosen.

Figure 1.7: The Number Format dialog box

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• Font: Choose the range of cells which need to have a different font (the title or headings of
your worksheet are an obvious example). Choose Font from the Format Cells dialogue box
and select the Font that you want to use. Select the size that you want, along with any other
characteristics required (eg bold, underline and even its colour), and click on the OK button.

Figure 1.8: The Font selection dialog box

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APPENDIX 2

Summary of frequently used features

• Entering text or numbers. Select the cell. Type the text or value. Press Enter.

• Entering a formula. Select the cell where you want the formula to go. Type an equals signs (=).
Then type the formula. For example, if we wanted to use the formula x2+2x+3, then we could
put our x value in cell A1 and then put the following formula in cell B1: =A1^2+2*A1+3. This
would calculate the formula using the value in cell A1 and put the result in B1. Of course we
could now change the value of x, which would also change the result of the formula in B2. This
is the major power of spreadsheets: solving "What-if" type problems.

• Summing a range of cells. Put the cursor in the cell where you want the sum. Click the
AutoSum button (the one with the Σ on it), select the range of cells you want to sum, and press
Enter.

• Formatting cells. Select the cells you want to format. Click the selection with the right mouse
button. A shortcut menu appears. From the menu, select the format you want for the selection.
For example, you can change font settings (the typeface, its size, colour and typestyle) by
choosing Font and selecting settings from the Font dialogue box.

•Formatting cells FAST. You can apply formats fast with toolbars. For example, make text bold
by selecting cells and clicking the B button (Bold tool) in the standard toolbar.

•Changing how numbers, times and dates are displayed. Select the cells. Click the selection with
the right mouse button. A shortcut menu appears. From the menu, select Number. In the Number
Format dialogue box, select the number style you want to use and click OK.

• Moving cells. Select the cell/s you wish to move by holding down the left mouse-button and
dragging the mouse over the cells you wish to move. This highlights the block. Now select the
outer border of these cells, again using the left mouse button, drag the mouse to where you want
the cells to be copied to, and release the mouse button.

• Copying cells. Select the cells, hold down the Ctrl key, use the left mouse button to select the
outside border of the cells, drag the cells to where you want to copy them, and release the button.

•Entering a series of numbers, dates or times. (Auto Filling). Type the starting value in the cell
where you want to begin the series. Type the second value in the text cell. Select both cells and

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use the left mouse button to drag the fill handle (the small box at the bottom right corner of the
selection) until you've expanded the selection into the series required.

• Creating and editing charts. Select the cells that contain the chart values. Click the
ChartWizard button on the toolbar (the one with a bar chart and magic wand). Draw a box
anywhere on the worksheet. The ChartWizard guides you through five steps for creating a chart.
Make the settings in each dialogue box and click the Next button to accept them and move on to
the next step.

• Printing. To print the active document on your default Windows printer, choose Print from the
File menu. To preview the printed page/s before you actually print the document on paper,
choose Print Preview from the File menu

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APPENDIX 3

Excel functions

As mentioned earlier, it is also possible in Excel to use certain in-built functions when you are
creating formulae. These range from the simple SUM function, through to some fairly complex
financial functions, such as DDB. Anyway, they are simple to use, and a selection are listed
below.

Function Action Example Ex. Result

ABS(value) Calculates the absolute =ABS(-12) 12
value of a number.
AVERAGE(range) Calculates the average =AVERAGE(3,9,5,7) 6
of values.
COUNT(range) Calculates the number =COUNT(F1:F10) 10
of numeric entries in a
range.
IF(condition, true Evaluates an expression =IF(G9>0,"Profit" Profit
to true or false and , (assuming
value, false value) returns one value for a "Loss") G9 is
true condition or greater
another value for a than 0!)
false condition.
MAX(range) Finds the maximum =MAX(9,1,4,0,15,6 15
value in a range. )
MIN(range) Finds the minimum =MIN(1,6,9,4,3,7) 1
value in a range.
MODE(range) Finds the most common =MODE(4,5,6,4,5,4 4
value in a range. )
NOW() Calculates the current =NOW() 1/28/94
date or time (depending
on how the cell is
formatted).
PI() Returns the value of π. =PI() 3.1415926
54
PRODUCT(range) Multiplies values. =PRODUCT(15,4,2) 120
ROUND(value,places Rounds off a number to =ROUND(3.141,1) 3.1
a given number of
) decimal places.
SQRT(value) Calculates the square =SQRT(144) 12
root.
SUM(range) Adds values. =SUM(10,3,F1:F3) 45
(F1=12,
F2=15,
F3=5)
Table 3.1: Major Excel Functions

eg: At the moment, if you wanted to add, say three cells together, you would type as a formula
=B1+B2+B3 which would put the result of that addition into the cell. Using the SUM function,
all you would have to type is =SUM(B1:B3). This really comes into its own when you are
adding large ranges of numbers. The : sign by the way, indicates that we are talking about the
RANGE B1 to B3. Obviously, this range could be any rectangle we wanted of any size, so
A1:F14 defines a rectangle starting at the top left corner down to cell F14.
Now that you have the general concept of functions, here are some others that you may need to
use, or might just like to investigate:

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Statistical Functions Description

VAR(range) Returns the variance of the range
STDEV(range) Returns the standard deviation of the elements of range
MEDIAN(range) Returns the median of the range of cells
COUNTA(range) Returns the number of number of nonblank cells in
range
Table 3.2: Excel Statistical Functions

Mathematical Description
Functions
INT(value) Rounds a number down to the nearest integer
LOG(value) Returns the common LOG of the value/cell
LN(value) Returns the Natural LOG of the value/cell
SIN(value) Returns the sine of value (Angles measured in
Radians)
COS(value) Returns the cosine of value
TAN(value) Returns the tangent of value
ASIN(value) Returns the angle (in radians) whose sine is value
ACOS(value) Returns the angle (in radians) whose cosine is value
ATAN(value) Returns the angle (in radians) whose tangent is value
EXP(value) Exponential of value
Table 3.3: Excel Mathematical Functions

Logical Functions Description

ISBLANK(cell) Tests whether a cell is blank
AND(range) Returns TRUE if all arguments are TRUE
OR(range) Returns TRUE if any arguments are TRUE
NOT(logical) Reverses the logic of its argument
FALSE() Returns logical value FALSE
TRUE() Returns logical value TRUE
ISERR(cell) Tests whether a cell contains an error
Table3.4: Excel Logical Function Operators

Date & Time Functions Description

DATEVALUE(text) Converts a date into a number for use in calculations
DAY(date) Returns the day within the date specified
MONTH(date) Returns the month within the date specified
TIMEVALUE(text) Converts a time into a number for use in calculations
WEEKDAY(date) Returns the day of the week based on the number
given
YEAR(date) Returns the year within the date specified
Table 3.5: Excel Time and Date Functions

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Financial Functions Description

DDB(cost,salvage,life,period,factor) Calculates the depreciation using the
FV(interest rate,periods,payment
amount,present value,type)
IPMT(rate,period,periods,present
value,future value,type)
NPER(rate,payment,present
value,future value,type)
NPV(rate,range)
PMT(rate,periods,present
value,future value,type)
PPMT(rate,period,periods,present
value,future value,type)
RATE(periods,payment,present
value,future value,type,guess)
SLN(cost,salvage,life)
SYD(cost,salvage,life,period)
Table 3.6: Excel Financial Functions
double declining balance method
Calculates the future value of an
investment
Calculates the interest paid for a
particular payment
Calculates the number of payments
required to pay off a loan at a given
interest rate
Calculates the present value of a series
of cash flow transactions
Calculates the payment amount required
for an investment to be paid off given a
specific term and interest rate.
Calculates the amount of principal being
paid during any payment period
Calculates the interest rate required for a
present value to become a greater value
Calculates depreciation using the
straight line method
Calculates depreciation using the sum of
the years` digits method

The above are only a small selection of the full range of functions available. Full details of these
can be found in the Excel Function Reference manual.

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