Basic Excel Notes
Basic Excel Notes
Microsoft Excel is an electronic spreadsheet. You can use it to organize your data into
rows and columns. You can also use it to perform mathematical calculations quickly.
This course teaches Microsoft Excel basics as a prelude to the use of Statistical
Analysis System (SAS) software in carrying out more complex statistical analysis.
This Section will introduce you to the Excel window. To begin this Section, start
Microsoft Excel as follows:
In the upper-left corner of the Excel window is the Microsoft Office button. When you
click the button, a menu appears. You can use the menu to create a new file, open an
existing file, save a file, print and perform many other tasks.
The Quick Access Toolbar
Next to the Microsoft Office button is the Quick Access toolbar. The Quick Access
toolbar gives you quick access to commands you frequently use.
The Title Bar
Next to the Quick Access toolbar is the Title bar. On the Title bar, Microsoft Excel
displays the name of the workbook you are currently using. At the top of the Excel
window, you should see "Book 1 - Microsoft Excel" or a similar name.
The Ribbon
In Microsoft Excel, you use the Ribbon to issue commands. The Ribbon is located near
the top of the Excel window, below the Quick Access toolbar.
Worksheets
Microsoft Excel Workbook consists of worksheets. It is the area or single sheet
provided for the data work. Each worksheet contains columns and rows. The columns
are lettered A to Z and then continuing with AA, AB, AC and so on (total columns are
16384); the rows are numbered 1 to 1,048,576.
The combination of a column coordinate and a row coordinate make up a cell
address.
The Formula Bar
If the Formula bar is turned on, the cell address of the cell you are in displays in the
Name box which is located on the left side of the Formula bar. Cell entries display on
the right side of the Formula bar.
The Status bar appears at the very bottom of the Excel window and provides such
information as the sum, average, minimum, and maximum value of selected
numbers.
Move Around a Worksheet
By using the arrow keys, you can move around your worksheet. You can use the down
arrow key to move downward one cell at a time. You can use the up arrow key to
move upward one cell at a time. You can use the Tab key to move across the page to
the right, one cell at a time. You can hold down the Shift key and then press the Tab
key to move to the left, one cell at a time. You can use the right and left arrow keys to
move right or left one cell at a time. The Page Up and Page Down keys move up and
down one page at a time. If you hold down the Ctrl key and then press the Home key,
you move to the beginning of the worksheet.
Go To Cells Quickly
The following are shortcuts for moving quickly from one cell in a worksheet to a cell
in a different part of the worksheet.
EXERCISE 2 Go to -- F5
1. Press F5. The Go To dialog box opens.
2. Type J3 in the Reference field.
3. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell J3.
Go to -- Ctrl+G
1. Hold down the Ctrl key while you press "g" (Ctrl+g). The Go To dialog box
opens.
2. Type C4 in the Reference field.
3. Press Enter. Excel moves to cell C4.
Go To -- The Name Box
You can also use the Name box to go to a specific cell. Just type the cell you want to
go to in the Name box and then press Enter.
If you wish to perform a function on a group of cells, you must first select those cells
by highlighting them. The exercises that follow teach you how to select.
EXERCISE 3
Select Cells – F8 To
select cells A1 to E7:
1. Go to cell A1.
2. Press the F8 key. This anchors the cursor.
3. Note that "Extend Selection" appears on the Status bar in the lower-left corner
of the window. You are in the Extend mode.
4. Click in cell E7. Excel highlights cells A1 to E7.
5. Press Esc and click anywhere on the worksheet to clear the highlighting.
Alternative Method: Select Cells by Dragging
1. Go to cell A1.
2. Press the left mouse button.
3. While holding down the left mouse button, use the mouse to move from cell
A1 to C5.
4. Release the left mouse button.
5. Hold down the Ctrl key until step 9.
6. Using the mouse, place the cursor in cell D7.
7. Press the left mouse button.
8. While holding down the left mouse button, move to cell F10. Release the left
mouse button.
9. Release the Ctrl key. Cells A1 to C5 and cells D7 to F10 are selected.
10.Press Esc and click anywhere on the worksheet to remove the highlighting.
Enter Data
In this section, you will learn how to enter data into your worksheet. First, place the
cursor in the cell in which you want to start entering data. Type some data, and then
press Enter. If you need to delete, press the Backspace key to delete one character at
a time.
EXERCISE 4 Enter Data
6. Click the Wrap Text button . Excel wraps the text in the cell.
Delete a Cell Entry
To delete an entry in a cell or a group of cells, you place the cursor in the cell or select
the group of cells and press Delete.
EXERCISE 7 Delete a Cell Entry
1. Select cells A1 to A2.
2. Press the Delete key.
Save a File
To save your file:
1. Click the Office button. A menu appears.
2. Click Save. The Save As dialog box appears.
3. Go to the directory in which you want to save your file.
4. Type Section1 in the File Name field.
5. Click Save. Excel saves your file.
1.24 Close Excel
Close Microsoft Excel.
1. Click the Office button. A menu appears.
2. Click Close. Excel closes.
1. Type: Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide in cells A1, B1, C1, and D1
respectively
2. Type: 12, 25, 11 and 75 in cells A2, B2, C2 and D2 respectively
3. Type: 8, 13, 6 and 5 in cells A3, B3, C3 and D3 respectively
4. Type: = A2 + A3 in cell A5 and press Enter
5. Type: = B2 + B3 in cell A5 and press Enter
6. Type: = C2 + C3 in cell A5 and press Enter
7. Type: = D2 + D3 in cell A5 and press Enter
When creating formulas, you can reference cells and include numbers. All of the
following formulas are valid:
(a) =A2/B2; (b) =A2+12-B3; (c) =A2*B2+12; (d) =24+53/B2
AutoSum
You can use the AutoSum button on the Home tab to automatically add a
column or row of numbers. When you press the AutoSum button , Excel selects
the numbers it thinks you want to add. If you then click the check mark on the
Formula bar or press the Enter key, Excel adds the numbers. If Excel's guess as to
which numbers you want to add is wrong, you can select the cells you want.
EXERCISE 3 AutoSum
The following illustrates AutoSum:
1. Go to cell F1.
2. Type 3.
3. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
4. Type 3.
5. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell.
6. Type 3.
7. Press Enter. Excel moves down one cell to cell F4.
8. Choose the Home tab.
9. Click the AutoSum button in the Editing group or click ALT = (shortcut key)
Excel selects cells F1 through F3 and enters a formula in cell F4.
10.Press Enter. Excel adds cells F1 through F3 and displays the result in cell F4.
Note that you can click on the arrow next to AutoSum to access other automatic
calculations like average, minimum and maximum values, count numbers, etc.
Align Cell Entries
When you type text into a cell, by default your entry aligns with the left side of the
cell. When you type numbers into a cell, by default your entry aligns with the right
side of the cell. You can change the cell alignment. You can center, left-align, or right-
align any cell entry. Look at cells A1 to D1. Note that they are aligned with the left
side of the cell.
EXERCISE 4
To center cells A1 to D1:
5. Click the Paste button . Excel moves the contents of cells D9 to D12 to cells G1 to
G4.
Insert and Delete Columns and Rows
You can insert and delete columns and rows. When you delete a column, you delete
everything in the column from the top of the worksheet to the bottom of the
worksheet. When you delete a row, you delete the entire row from left to right.
Inserting a column or row inserts a completely new column or row.
EXERCISE 5
Insert and Delete Columns and Rows To delete
columns F and G: (shortcut key – CTRL -)
M- EXCEL
7.
LNOTES
your number.
9. Click twice on the Increase Decimal button
four decimal places.
10.Click the Decrease Decimal button
to change the number format to
Calculate an Average
You can use the AVERAGE function to calculate the average of a series of numbers.
1. Move to cell A6.
2. Type Average. Press the right arrow key to move to cell B6.
3. Type =AVERAGE(B1:B3).
4. Press Enter. The average of cells B1 to B3, which is 21, appears.
You can use the MAX function to find the highest number in a series of numbers.
.
1. Move to cell A8.
2. Type Max. Press the right arrow key to move to cell B8.
3. Type =MAX(B1:B3).
4. Press Enter. The highest number in the series, which is 27, appears.
You can use the count function to count the number of numbers in a series.
Fill Times
The following demonstrates filling time:
1. Type 1:00 into cell C1.
2. Grab the fill handle and drag with your mouse to highlight cells C1 to C14. Note
that each cell fills, using military time.
3. Press Esc and then click anywhere on the worksheet to remove the
highlighting.
To change the format of the time:
1. Select cells C1 to C14.
2. Choose the Home tab.
3. Click the down arrow next to the number format box . A menu
appears.
4. Click Time. Excel changes the format of the time.
Fill Numbers
1. Go to cell E1.
2. Type Section 1.
3. Grab the fill handle and drag with your mouse to highlight cells E1 to E14. The
cells fill in as a series: Section 1, Section 2, Section 3, and so on.
Section 4: Creating Charts
In Microsoft Excel, you can represent numbers in a chart. On the Insert tab, you can
choose from a variety of chart types, including column, line, pie, bar, area, and
scatter. The basic procedure for creating a chart is the same no matter what type of
chart you choose. As you change your data, your chart will automatically update.
You select a chart type by choosing an option from the Insert tab's Chart group. After
you choose a chart type, such as column, line, or bar, you choose a chart subtype. For
example, after you choose Column Chart, you can choose to have your chart
represented as a two-dimensional chart, a three-dimensional chart, a cylinder chart,
a cone chart, or a pyramid chart. There are further sub-types within each of these
categories. As you roll your mouse pointer over each option, Excel supplies a brief
description of each chart sub-type.
Create a Chart
To create the column chart shown above, start by creating the worksheet below
exactly as shown.
After you have created the worksheet, you are ready to create your chart.
EXERCISE 1 Create a
Column Chart
.
1. Select cells A3 to D6. You must select all the cells containing the data you want
in your chart. You should also include the data labels.
2. Choose the Insert tab.
3. Click the Column button in the Charts group. A list of column chart sub-types
types appears.
4. Click the Clustered Column chart sub-type. Excel creates a Clustered Column
chart and the Chart Tools context tabs appear.
Apply a Chart Layout
Context tabs are tabs that only appear when you need them. Called Chart Tools, there
are three chart context tabs: Design, Layout, and Format. The tabs become available
when you create a new chart or when you click on a chart. You can use these tabs to
customize your chart.
By default, when you create a chart, Excel embeds the chart in the active worksheet.
However, you can move a chart to another worksheet or to a chart sheet. A chart
sheet is a sheet dedicated to a particular chart. By default Excel names each chart
sheet sequentially, starting with Chart1. You can change the name.
EXERCISE 5
. Excel adds a dollar sign to
You have reached the end of Section 4. You can save and close your file.
Section 5: More on Entering Excel Formulas
This Section looks at more examples of how to enter and execute Excel Formulas.
5.1 The SUMIF Function Syntax SUMIF(range,criteria,sum_range)
Range is the range of cells where Excel searches for the criteria that you want
evaluated. Cells in each range must be numbers or names, arrays, or references that
contain numbers. Blank and text values are ignored.
Criteria is the criteria in the form of a number, expression, or text that defines which
cells will be added. For example, criteria can be expressed as 32, "32", ">32", or
"apples".
Sum_range are the actual cells to add if their corresponding cells in range match
criteria. If sum_range is omitted, the cells in range are both evaluated by criteria and
added if they match criteria.
Example
A B
2 100,000 7,000
3 200,000 14,000
4 300,000 21,000
5 400,000 28,000
Formula Description (Result)
=SUMIF(A2:A5,">160000",B2:B Sum of the commissions
5) for
160,000 (900,000)
=SUMIF(A2:A5,"=300000",B2:B Sum of the commissions
3) for
Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of all the cells in a range that meet a given
criteria.
Syntax AVERAGEIF(range,criteria,average_range)
Criteria is the criteria in the form of a number, expression, cell reference, or text that
defines which cells are averaged. For example, criteria can be expressed as 32, "32",
">32", "apples", or B4.
A B
2
East 45,678
3
West 23,789
North -4,789
MidWest 9,678
7
Formula Description (result)
8
=AVERAGEIF(A2:A6,"=*West",B2:B6) Average of all profits for the
9
West and MidWest regions
10
(16,733.5)
Counts the number of cells within a range that meet the given criteria.
Syntax: COUNTIF(range,criteria)
Criteria is the criteria in the form of a number, expression, cell reference, or text that
defines which cells will be counted. For example, criteria can be expressed as 32,
"32", ">32", "apples", or B4.
Remark
You can use the wildcard characters, question mark (?) and asterisk (*), in criteria.
A question mark matches any single character; an asterisk matches any sequence
of characters. If you want to find an actual question mark or asterisk, type a tilde
(~) before the character.
1 Data Data
2 apples 32
3 oranges 54
4 peaches 75
5 apples 86
Formula Description (result)
=COUNTIF(A2:A5,"apples") Number of cells with apples in the first
Example 2: COUNTIF formulas using wildcard characters and handling blank values
A B
1 Data Data
2 apples Yes
oranges NO
peaches No
apples YeS
6 Formula Description (result)
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.
Example
1
Score
2
45
3
90
4
78
Formula Description (Result)
=IF(A2<50,"FAIL","PASS") Assigns either a pass or fail
remark to the first score (FAIL)
=IF(A2>89,"A",IF(A2>79,"B", Assigns a letter grade to the
IF(A2>69,"C",IF(A2>59,"D","F")))) first score (F)
Example 2
A
1 Data
2 50
3 104
Formula Description (Result)
=AND(1<A2,A2<100) Because 50 is between 1 and 100
(TRUE)