PRACTICAL WORK 02 - SPREADSHEETS

Goals of this practical work: at the end of the practical class you will know
-to open and save files using Microsoft Excel
-to perform basic operations with data: select, copy, move, delete
-to perform computations using available data, using functions typed or chosen from menus
-to create charts based on existing data
-to automatically create data series using different MS Excel options and shortcuts

Introduction. Microsoft Excel

A spreadsheet or an electronic spreadsheet is a software for organizing and analysing data displayed
as a table, where we can write both text and (especially) numbers. Spreadsheets developed as
computerized simulations of paper accounting worksheets.
Microsoft Excel, part of Microsoft Office, is a spreadsheet application developed by Microsoft for
Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation and graphing tools, pivot tables and other advanced
features; it also represents the “industry standard” for spreadsheets.

1.a 1.b
Fig.1. Launghing MS Excel 2010

In this practical work you will learn to use the Microsoft Excel 2010 version of this
spreadsheet program.
To launch the application, press the START button, move the mouse cursor over the “All
Programs” button and select “Microsoft Office” from the list that appears. In the list of shortcuts
displayed under MS Office you will find Microsoft Excel 2010 - just click once on it, using the left
mouse button and you will start the program. On some computers you can find shortcuts directly on
the desktop or on the START menu.

At startup, the program will create and open a new file (“workbook”), containing three pages
(“worksheets”); because of this, the window that appears will look like the following picture
(Fig.2), having a structure similar to a table as the main element.

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 Title bar
Menu bar

Tool bar

Formula bar
Column names
Cell

Row numbers
Column

Row

Fig.2. Overview of MS Excel 2010 interface

On the “View” menu you should check if the “Formula bar” is selected. This is an area containing
two cells, a smaller one where the name of the current cell is displayed (the red circle on the picture
above) and a larger one where the actual text that was written in the current cell is displayed (in
case we input a formula, only the result will be displayed into the spreadsheet, while on the
“Formula bar” we will see the text of the formula).

Saving and opening a file

In order not to accidentally lose data, you should often save the file you work
on. To do this, please click on the “File” menu, then on the “Save” option.
A window similar to the next one should appear, if you save the file for the first
time. The same window shows up if you choose the “Save as…” option, when
you want to rename or save in a different location the current file. If you press
the “Save” button while working on a previously saved file, you will not be
prompted again for a name or a location, only the information in the file will be
updated.

To save the file, first please choose the following location: Computer -
DATA(D:) - ENG1, to save the file in.
Write in the “File name“ textbox the name you want to use (e.g.”Table”) and
choose in the "Save as type" box the desired output format for your file and it’s
corresponding file extension. To finish, press the “Save” button, located on the
the bottom-right corner of the window
Save your file with the name "Table", keeping the file type automatically chosen
by MS Excel - ".xlsx". After pressing the "Save" button, you will notice that on
the title bar at the top of the MS Excel program window the new name of the file
is written - "Table.xlsx".

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Fig.3.Dialogue windows for the “Save” and “Save As” options

To open a file, choose the “Open…” option from the “File” menu, then browse the folders for the
location where you know the file is stored. After selecting the desired file, press the “Open” button,
located in the bottom-right part of the window.
If you need to create another document, you can use the File menu, select New, then “Blank
Workbook”

Data input
To start working with MS Excel, please type in the table the data displayed below:

This data represent the temperature measurements recorded every 4 hours for a patient, for a five
days period of time.

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Basic operations with data – Select, Copy, Move, Delete
To copy or move data on a spreadsheet, first you have to select that data. You can do this using the
mouse - press the left button then drag the mouse cursor over the area where the desired cells are,
thus creating a selection rectangle. The color of the selected cells will change, usually becoming
blue. This way, an entire block of cells will be selected.
You can also select a block of cells using the Shift key – if you click on a cell, then Shift-click on
another cell, the rectangular area that has those two cells as opposing corners will be selected.
After you select the data, perform the desired command – “Copy” for copying data or “Cut” for
moving data. You can select those commands from the “Home” menu or from the pop-menu that
appears when you right-click the selection (see picture below), or you can use the shortcuts, –
Ctrl+”C” for “Copy” and Ctrl+”X” for “Cut”.
The third step consists on selecting the first cell of the new location or the entire area where you
want the data copied.
To conclude the copying, perform the “Paste” command - choose it from the “Home” menu or the
right-click menu or use the Ctrl+”V” shortcut.

As an exercise, please copy the data on the first column of your table, from A1 to A7, to the right of
the table, in a location starting from G1. Use the following pictures as a guide to complete this task.

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If you want to move data in Excel, you can to use the “Cut” and “Paste” commands, in a similar
way as for copying. But you have another option, to drag the selected data to a new location, by
placing the mouse cursor on the border of the selection rectangle (see below its shape when it
touches the selection border), holding the left mouse button and dragging the data to the desired
area.
Please move the data you copied before, now located into the G1:G7 cells, to the next column to the
right, starting from H1.

To complete the exercise, delete the data you just moved, located now into the H1:H7 cells. If you
use the right-click menu and select “Delete”, a new window will appear, asking how to replace the
cells that will be removed from the worksheet. This will not happen if you press the “Delete” key
on the keyboard, because that way you perform, in fact, the “Clear Contents” command - the cells
are not removed, only their content is.

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MS Excel Formulas
The main function of MS Excel is to perform computations and calculations using the data stored in
the worksheets. This is done by replacing actual numbers with references to the cells where they are
stored in the table – the cells’ names – in manually written mathematical formulas or Excel specific
formulas.
First, let us compute the mean value for the temperatures recorded on Monday, by adding them and
dividing the sum by the number of values. The formula will be written below the data used – in the
B8 cell.

When you finish writing, press the “Enter” key to see the result.
Attention: the text you wrote before is now displayed on the “Formula bar”, while the B8 cell
shows the result of the calculation.

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 An easier way to do this calculation, especially for a large number of data cells, is to use an Excel
formula. The formula for computing the mean is called “AVERAGE”. It uses as parameter the area
where the data is located, indicated by the upper left cell and the lower right cell, separated by “:”.
Attention: any computation performed in MS Excel must begin with the symbol “=”.

If you press the “Enter” key you will obtain the same result as before, when using the first formula.

In order to compute the mean value for the other columns, instead of writing the formula for each of
them we can copy the first formula in the corresponding cell from the other columns. We can do
this because MS Excel has the ability to change the parameters of a formula according to the place
where it is copied. To copy the formula form B8 or B9 we can use the classical approach
(“Copy”+”Paste”) or use a shortcut – select the cell where the formula is located, then drag it by the
bottom right corner, thus performing an “auto fill” operation.

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While some formulas can and should be learned (SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, MEDIAN), the
entire list of functions available in MS Excel is too big to be memorized. This is why all the
functions can be used from the “Formulas”-“Insert Function” special menu (or the “f x ” shortcut
button from the “Formula bar”).

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A new window will appear where you can choose the general category of functions you seek then
select the actual function you want to use. For each function, a new dialogue window will appear,
with text boxes where you can write or select from the table the area where the needed data is.

As an exercise, compute the sum of the temperatures recorded on Monday, and display the result in
cell B10. Then, copy that formula to compute the sums for all the other days.

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Creating charts
Usually, the visual representation of data is easier to remember and understand than the actual
numbers. In this example, we will represent in a chart the evolution for a period of five days of the
patient’s temperature. In order to do this, first we have to select the data we want to display.

After selecting the data, to create the chart, we use the -“Charts” area form the “Insert” menu bar.
For this example, please use the “Line” option, choosing the suggested chart type.

In the end, the following chart will appear on the same worksheet.

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The chart is an independent object on the worksheet. It can be moved around, by clicking on it and
holding the left mouse button while dragging, or modified in size, by dragging the black control
squares it has on the corners and at the middle of each side.

In order to modify the chart look or add more elements onto the chart area, MS Excel 2010 uses
three special menus that appear only when a chart is selected and are grouped under the “Chart
Tools” label, at the far right of the menu bar. These three special menus are called “Design”,
“Layout” and “Format”.
As an exercise, please use the “Layout” menu to add a text box with a title to the chart, and two text
boxes to name the horizontal and vertical axes.
You will use the ”Chart Title” button on the “Layout” menu (marked with a red border in the image
above), and the “Axis Titles” Button, to add a title for each of the two axis, as described in the
following image.

Please write the appropriate texts, so that in the end your chart will look like the model in the next
image.
ATTENTION!
When creating a chart, you should always write the measuring units for both axes, to make the
chart’s meaning easily understandable for anyone.
A chart is, in fact, a collection of many graphic elements: text boxes, drawing areas, shapes.
Each of them has many properties that can be customized, either by double clicking that element
or right clicking it and selecting “Format [element_name]…” from the pop-up menu.
Please try to modify as many elements (lines, value markers, titles) from the chart as you can, to
see the available options for texts and shapes.

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 Temperature evolution
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39.5
Temperature (Celsius degrees)

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38.5
Monday
38
Tuesday
37.5
Wednesday
37
Thursday
36.5
Friday
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35.5
4:00 8:00 12:00 16:00 20:00 0:00
Time (hours)

Automatic Fill of an area

In order to move on to the next exercise, please choose the second page of the workbook, by
pressing the “Sheet 2” button located on the bottom left side of the program window.

To create copies of a value into cells situated around it we can use the “Fill” option from the
“Home” menu or we can drag the right bottom corner of that cell, as shown for the automatic
copying of functions. For example, if we write the value “1” in the A1 cell, and we want to write
the same value into the cells below it, let’s say from A2 to A10, we can select that area plus the
original cell (A1:A10), then choose “Fill”-“Down” from the “Home” menu.

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If we want to write the same value into cells situated to the side of a certain cell, we should use the
“Fill”-“Right” option. Using this command, please fill the area from B1 to C10 with the values that
are now written into the A1 to A10 cells.
Attention: select the entire A1 to C10 area before issuing the command.

Perform the same operation with some text (e.g. write “a”, “b”, “c”, “d”, “e” into the E1 to E5 cells,
then copy them into the F1 to H5 area.

In order to create a series of increasing (or decreasing) values, we will use the “Fill”-“Series”
command from the “Home” menu. We will write the first value of the series (i.e. write the value “1”
into the K1 cell), then we will choose the command. A new dialog box will appear where we have
to choose the direction of the series (“Columns for vertical), the increase value (“Step value”) and
the value that should not be exceeded by the series (“Stop value”).

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To create a series from 1 to 20 with an increase of 1 from one value to the next, please make
choices according to the next images.

The result will be similar to the last image.

Please try to create, on the L column, a series of numbers from 0 (write this value in the L1 cell) to
100, the difference between cells being 5. The selections done for the “Fill”-“Series” dialog box
should be the following:

and the result will be as seen on the L column from the picture
on the right.

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 There is another way to create a series of consecutive
numbers: to write the first two values from the series, in
order to let the program understand there is a difference
between values, then select both cells and drag the
selection by the bottom right corner. This way, the first
value won’t be copied in the other cells, but a series will be
created, with the step equal to the difference between the
two written values.
For example, in order to create a series from 10 to 200,
with an increase of 10 units between values, we should
write the first two values of the series, 10 (into cell M1)
and 20 (into cell M2), select both the M1 and M2 cells and
drag the bottom right corner of the selection until the value
200 appears. Releasing the mouse button, the required
series will appear into the M1:M20 area of the worksheet..
Exercises
Exercise 1. Create the graph of the function f(x)=x3+x+1,
for the interval [-2;2]

To create the graph, we should plot many points that are

part of it and unite them. These points are, in fact, the
graphical representation of pairs consisting of an “x” value
and the value for “f(x)”, computed using the above
formula. So, first of all, we have to create o list of values
for x, with a small increase from one to the other, between -2 and 2 – let’s say we’ll use a step of
0.1. Second, we should compute for each “x” value the corresponding “f(x)”. Third, by selecting the
list with all the “x” and “f(x)”, we will create a special type of chart, a “XY Scatter” chart, where
the points are united by a curved line.

To start, move to the 3rd page (choose “Sheet 3” from the bottom left part of the program window),
where we will write the first value, -2, in the A1 cell. Then, using “Fill”-“Series” we will make the
following choices:

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After the entire list will appear, we will write the formula, in order to compute the f(x) value for the
first x, located into A1.

Attention: we will replace each “x” from the formula with the name of the cell where the value for
s is located. The operator for the power operation is “^”, obtained by pressing Shift+”6”.

After we compute the first “f(x)” value, we can copy that formula into the cells below it, until the
end of the list with the “x” values is reached.

When both lists are ready, for “x” and “f(x)”, we can select them then create the chart, using the
“Insert”-“Chart…” option from the Menu Bar.

Attention: instead of selecting all the data, from A1 to B41, it would be easier to select the entire A
and B columns, by clicking on the name of the “A” column, holding the left mouse button pressed
and moving it on the name of the “B” column, before releasing the mouse button.

After you select the data, please use the “Insert” menu to create the appropriate type of chart. For
this exercise, you should select a “Scatter” chart, using the version that displays only lines
connecting the dots on the chart, without markers for the actual values plotted

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A chart similar to the next one should appear on screen.
15

10

5
Series1
0
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

-5

-10

Using what you previously learned, use the “Layout”menu under “Chart tools”, which shows only
when the chart is selected, to add a chart title - “x^3+x+1 Function Chart”, a title for the horizontal
axis, with “x” as text, and a title for the vertical axis, with “f(x)” as text. Also, please delete the
label “Series 1” on the right part of the chart. In the end, the chart should look like this:

x^3+x+1 Function Chart

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10

5
f(x)

0
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
-5

-10
x

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In order to start a new exercise, we need a new page, so we will have to insert another worksheet in
the file. This is done using the “Insert”-“Insert Sheet” option from the “Home” menu or the Insert
Worksheet” button from the bar witch displays the sheets in the current file, at the bottom of the
screen.

Exercise 2. For an overweight patient (120 Kg.), make a table with the weight which they should
reach every month, knowing that after 12 months, they must reach 80 Kg. Calculate the monthly
percentage decrease. Represent the weight evolution graphically.

First you will create a list with the name of the months, as shown in the next picture. Then, next to
the first month you will write the initial value of the weight (120) and next to the last month you
will write the final value of the weight (80).

The difference between the original and final value must be distributed evenly. For this, select the
area from 120 to 80 and then issue the “Fill”-“Series” command from the “Home” menu . In the
dialog window displayed, the ”Step value” tab will show a value automatically calculated by Excel,
which you do not modify. Press the “OK” button to create the list of weights.

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For each month (except for the first one) we have to compute the percentage decrease from the
previous month.
To do that, we will have to divide the difference by the weight from the previous month and display
the result as a percentage.

Please, in the C3 cell, corresponding to February, write the formula from the next image then copy
the cell’s contents into all the other cells, down to December, as shown in the first image below.
To display the results as percentages, please select all the data in the C column, right click on the
selection and choose the “Format Cells…” option form the menu.

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A new window will appear, with several tabs on the upper region. Select the first tab, “Number”
and from the lists it displays choose “Percentage”, without modifying the value on the “Decimal
places” text box on the right. To complete the task, press “OK” and the data on the C column will
be displayed as percentages.

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To create the weight evolution chart, select the data from the A and B columns and create a Line
Chart, in a similar way to the first chart you created, for temperatures, or a you could try to create a
Column chart.

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