SPREADSHEETS with Ms Excel

By Mr. Sawe

Introduction

All Businesses need to cope with or rather handle numeric data i.e. sales, profits, financial forecasts, stock movements and mathematical models of all kinds. The spreadsheet meets these needs. For many years, Businesses have used manual spreadsheet which is large sheets of squared paper divided into columns and rows. Managers have used these sheets of paper spread out on their desks to analyze various types of business information. It is estimated that managers spent a lot of time preparing budgets. This involves such operations as manipulating, calculating and analyzing numeric information, using formulae, inserting text and drawing graphs. When the data changes, lengthy and tedious recalculation becomes necessary. An electronic spreadsheet is simply the equivalent of this sheet of squared paper, with in-built calculating facilities.

APPLICATIONS OF SPREADSHEETS

Budget preparations Analysis of students progress Balance sheets Manufacturing accounts Cash inflows Journal reports Payrolls Statistics Inventory tax and profit plans Financial arrangements Sales projections.

It is much easier to use computerized spreadsheet such as excel than to perform manual calculations A spreadsheet is a general-purpose tool that can be used to solve a wide variety of problems. Any information can be presented in columns and rows. Reduces the work of calculations since formulas are used. Reduce chances of making errors especially computational errors. Frees user time to concentrate on problem solving. Allows users to examine alternative solutions Produces quicker results.

ADVANTAGES OF A SPREADSHEET

MICROSOFT EXCEL

Ms Excel is a spreadsheet package used for preparing, manipulating and maintaining mainly data that require mathematical computations in such as accountant sheets in rows and columns.

Worksheets and Workbooks

Introduction

Workbooks, not worksheets, are the basic file in Exceleven if youre only using a single worksheet, its still contained in a workbook. Workbooks, in essence, are the containers for worksheets. Think of workbooks as the ledger books that contain the pages on which you enter information. Worksheets are grids of cells arranged in rows and columns. When you first start Excel, or anytime you create a new workbook, youll notice that you have three worksheets in your workbook. (It is possible to configure Excel to create new workbooks with a different number of worksheets, as you will discover later in this chapter.) Each worksheet is independent of the others, meaning that any changes you make in one worksheet are independent of changes made in the others.

Understanding Workbooks

Excel starts with a blank workbook titled Book1. If you are starting a new project, simply use the blank workbook and save it under a new name. Opening new workbooks: There may be times when you want more than one workbook open at the same time. To open another new workbook, select File New from the menu. Excel displays the New Workbook pane at the right of your work area.

Opening existing workbooks

If the workbook you want to open is one youve recently had open, it will be listed in your File menu. Select File from the menu, and then look at the bottom of the drop-down menu options. Your most recently used files will be listed just above the Exit option. Click the name of the file you want to open.

Working with Worksheets

When you first start Excel, or anytime you create a new workbook, youll notice that you have three different worksheets in your workbook. Each worksheet is independent of the others, and you access them by clicking the tabs labeled Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3 at the bottom of the screen on the same level as your horizontal scrollbar. The tabs are called, appropriately enough, sheet tabs. You dont have to use all of the worksheets. You can add or delete worksheets at will. And if youd rather start with more or less than three worksheets, you can easily change the default number.

Working with Worksheets

Identifying rows and columns: Worksheets are grids of cells arranged in rows and columns. Each row (horizontal) has its own numerical designation, ranging from 1 to 65,536. Each column (vertical) has an alphabetical designation. The first 26 columns are A through Z. After that, they go from AA through AZ, BA through BZ, and so on, until you reach the final column, which is designated IV. It doesnt go all the way to IZ because Excel will allow only 256 total columns. Moving around the grid: You can make any cell in the grid the active cell by clicking within it. Anything you type or paste goes into the active cell. In addition to the mouse method, you can use the keyboard to move around the grid. The arrow keys, Page Up, and so forth, change the active cell: If you press the down arrow key, the cell below the currently active one becomes the new active cell; if you press the right arrow key, the cell to the right becomes the new active cell, and so on.

Working with Worksheets

Adding and deleting worksheets: To add a worksheet, first click the sheet tab of the worksheet you want to put it before, and then choose Insert Worksheet from the menu.You can add more than one worksheet at a time, too, but only as many as you currently have. Say youre starting with the default three worksheets.You can add two worksheets by clicking the first sheet tab, and then holding down the Shift key and clicking the second sheet tab. This selects both worksheets. Next, choose Insert Worksheet from the menu just as you do for a single worksheet. Two worksheets will be inserted. If you had selected all three of the default worksheets, three worksheets would have been inserted. Because the number of worksheets to be added is determined by the number of worksheets you select, there is no way to create more than double the number of worksheets you have at a time. To delete a worksheet, right-click its sheet tab, and then select Delete from the popup menu.You will be asked to confirm or cancel the deletion. To confirm, click the OK button. To cancel, click the Cancel button. Deleting several worksheets is just as simple. Click the first one you want to delete, hold down the Shift key, and click the last one. All the ones in between will also be selected that way. Right-click any of the selected sheet tabs, and then follow the same procedure as for deleting one worksheet.

Working with Worksheets

Renaming worksheets: All worksheets, when created, bear the name Sheet# with the # representing the number of the current worksheet. Although this does help to differentiate among the various worksheets in a workbook, its not terribly informative. It may not matter if youre using a single worksheet for personal use such as balancing your checkbook, but if youre using multiple worksheets or if other people need to understand your worksheet arrangements, youll probably want to give them more descriptive names like January Sales or Midwest Shipments. To change a worksheet name, double-click the sheet tab. This will highlight the worksheet name, and you can type the new name over the default one. The size of the sheet tab will expand to fit the size of the worksheet title. You can use up to 31 characters in a worksheet name.

Selecting and Using Ranges

Ranges are groups of cells. A range can be as little as two cells or as large as the entire worksheet. Ranges are used for many different purposes in Excel. A range of cells is usually selected by clicking in the top-left cell and, while holding the mouse button down, dragging the pointer until its in the lowerright cell of the desired range. If you dont like dragging, you can also click in the topleft cell, move the pointer to the bottomright cell of the range, hold down the Shift key, and click in the bottom-right cell.

Using Absolute and Relative References

Cells and ranges can be referred to by three approaches. The first two are essentially the same, but with one important difference. Using the normal cell-reference method, in which the top-left cell is called A1, a range that ran from that cell to D1 would be referred to as A1:D1. If it ran from A1 to H8, it would be referred to as A1:H8, and so on.You can designate an entire column or row by using it as both the start and end points of a range, as in A:A or 3:3. Using absolute references: References to cells and ranges of cells are used quite frequently in formulas. When you copy cells containing formulas to another location, Excel automatically adjusts any cell references in those formulas. Essentially, Excel changes the cell references to reflect the location into which you are copying the formula. For instance, assume that you have the formula =B1+B2, and it is in cell B3. If you copy the contents of B3 and paste them into cell D3, the cell references are changed and the formula in D3 becomes =D1+D2. This is done because Excel considers these normal cell references to be relative references they are relative to the cell in which they occur.

Saving and Closing a Workbook

To save a workbook, follow these steps:

1. Click the Save button in the toolbar. If this is the first time youve saved this workbook, youll find yourself looking at the Save As dialog box. If youve saved the workbook previously, itll just save without any further effort on your part. Using the Save in drop-down list, choose the folder in which you want to save the workbook. Type a name for the workbook in the File name text box. Click the Save button. If you later want to save the same workbook under a different name, select File Save As from the menu and follow the same procedure as for a first-time save.

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Entering and Formatting Information

Entering Data

Anything you type or paste in an Excel worksheet goes into the active cell. Text, formulas, numbers, dates, and times are common examples of the kind of data Excel is designed to handle. Just click in the cell into which you want to enter data and youre ready to go. Type it, press the Tab or Enter key or just click another cell, and the datas entered.

Creating data labels

There are two basic kinds of label arrangements. The first simply uses a single line of labels, either across the top of the worksheet to designate columns, or down the side of the worksheet to designate rows. Whether the line of labels runs horizontally or vertically, it usually begins in the first column.

Filling a series of labels automatically

Excel has a feature called a fill series that lets you fill in a series of labels without having to type each one. For instance, if your first label is 1/1/03, you can click the fill handle (the dot in the bottom-right corner of the active cell or range) and drag it either across or down for several cells. As you drag the fill handle, a floating message will inform you of what value will be filled in if you released the mouse button. When you release the mouse button, the other cells will be filled in with subsequent dates. If you dragged for five more cells, for instance, they would be filled with 1/2/03, 1/3/03, 1/4/03, 1/5/03, and 1/6/03.

Entering numbers, dates, and times

Other than labels, often theres not much text in a worksheet. Spreadsheets were invented for the purpose of crunching numbers, and thats still the most common use people put them to although today they have many other uses, too, from managing inventory to keeping track of wedding invitations!

Editing Data
As you enter data or click a cell containing data, notice that the cell contents are displayed in the Formula bar, even if the contents are not a formula. Any cell contents can be edited by clicking in the Formula bar and then typing the new data there, but you can also double-click the cell and edit the contents directly in the cell. If youd rather use function keys, you can press the F2 key to switch the active cell to edit mode. Whichever method you use, the word Edit appears in the status bar on the lower left when you switch to edit mode. Whether youre editing in the cell or in the Formula bar, whatever you enter in one appears in the other. If youre editing in the cell, the cursor is visible there, and the data in the Formula bar that is beyond the original insertion point of the changes drops down as though it were a subscript to show where the changes are being made. If youre editing in the Formula bar, both the subscript and the cursor display your current activity, but there is no indication in the cell, other than the changes themselves.

Copying, Moving, and Merging Cells

There are a number of reasons why you might want to copy the information and formatting from one cell to another or to move a cell to another location entirely in the worksheet.The latter is the spreadsheet equivalent of a cut and paste operation in a word processor. Maybe you got partway through creating a worksheet and then decided to modify its look. Formatting changes in one cell can be copied to others, thus saving you an awful lot of work. Or you might realize that your worksheet design is flawed and you have to rearrange the cells. Whatever your reasons, Excel provides easy-touse tools to accomplish the tasks.

Adding Comments to Cells

Comments are the Post-it pads of the Office world. Theyre notes you can attach to cells. To add a comment to a cell, follow these steps:
1. 2. Right-click the cell. Select Insert Comment from the pop-up menu. A yellow rectangle will appear next to the cell. Generally, it appears to the right of the selected cell, with the upperleft corner of the comment a little above the cell, but its exact location in relation to the cell depends on how much room there is on the upper right. The comment already has your name at the top, although this can be deleted like any other text. Type your comment. Click anywhere outside the comment to complete it.

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Adding and Deleting Cells, Rows, and Columns

Inserting and deleting any part of a worksheet both follow pretty much the same procedure.Youll need to consider the effect the insertion will have on other cells, because theyll need to move aside in order to make room for the new cell. You have two options regarding where the other cells end up. In the case of an insertion, they can move either to the right or down; for deletion, they can move left or up. Pick the cell where you will make the change accordingly.

Changing Column Widths and Row Heights

The width of columns and the height of rows are changeable by a variety of methods. Some of them take place automatically as you format data, others are managed with a mouse, and some utilize menu input.

Using AutoFormat
If youd rather not be bothered with making choices about font styles, borders, patterns, colors, and the like, Excel can do a pretty good job of handling all that for you. The feature is called AutoFormat, and it applies a set of predefined design options to a selected range of cells. AutoFormat is flexible in that it allows you several options within the preset choices, but if it has a weakness, its that its restricted to a series of common uses in worksheet design. Applying AutoFormat: To use AutoFormat, follow these steps:

Select the range of cells you want to apply it to (generally, your entire active worksheet area). Select FormatAutoFormat from the menu. This brings up the AutoFormat dialog box, which shows samples of more than a dozen predesigned formats for you to choose from. To pick one, click the sample image. If you want to accept the design as is, click the OK button to implement it.

Applying Fonts

Although you can present data perfectly well without fancy formatting of any kind, its generally better to use it. Why? Two very good reasons. First, visual cues help to distinguish between the different parts of your worksheet and help people to understand what they mean at a glance. Second, the most attractive presentation is likely the one that will be most accepted.

Rotating text
A common problem in worksheet layout and design is that the data in cells is not often as wide as the headings for the column containing the data cells. As a result, most of the cells in the worksheet are a lot of white space with a small bit of data. To solve this problem, Excel gives you two optionssetting the text to vertical or rotating it. Both are handled in the Orientation panel on the Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box .

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Right-click the selected cell or range of cells. Select Format Cells from the pop-up menu.This brings up the Format Cells dialog box. Click the Alignment tab. To set the text to vertical , click within the box with the word Text printed vertically (in the Orientation area of the dialog box). To rotate the text, you can click one of the degree points in the rotation box, drag the rotation pointer to the setting you want, or use the arrows below it to scroll to the degree of rotation you desire. Points below the middle of the rotation box are negative degrees and will result in left rotation; points above the middle are positive degrees and will result in right rotation.The maximum rotation in either direction is 90 degrees. Click the OK button.

Applying Borders, Patterns, and Colors

You can dress up your Excel worksheet with all sorts of fancy options, either just for the sake of beauty or for the more practical reason that borders, patterns, and colors can help delineate the various areas of your worksheet and set off one piece or set of data from the rest.

Formulas and Functions

Working with Formulas

Formulas let you work on the data in your worksheet cells to produce mathematical and logical results. Without them, spreadsheets would be nothing more than nicely structured collections of raw data. With formulas, that data can be made to yield valuable information. Formulas are constructed out of two basic elements: values and operators. Values can either be explicit (such as 345, 12, or -52) or they can be cell references (such as A2, E8, or F14). Cell references, as you learn later in this chapter, can even be named ranges. Cell references are used in formulas to tell Excel where to find the data to take action on. Operators are instructions that tell the worksheet how to process the data. For example, you might use an addition operator or a multiplication operator on cells containing numbers.

Creating a formula

To create a formula, follow these steps:

1) 2) All formulas you create begin with an equals sign (=). Select the cell into which you will be entering your formula and type an equals sign into it. Type an explicit value or a cell reference. For instance, if you want to triple the value in cell A2, you enter the number 3 to start your formula. For your cell reference you can use individual cell references, ranges of cells, and names of cells or ranges, as appropriate for your needs. Enter an operator and another value or cell reference. To continue with the example from the previous step, you would enter the multiplication operator (*) and a reference to cell A2 here. The formula now reads =3*A2. Repeat Step 3, adding operators and values or cell references, until you have completed your formula. Press Enter to finish. The results of the formula will appear in the cell in which you entered it.

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Understanding Functions

Functions are an intrinsic part of Excel. They allow you to perform a wide range of complex computations, anywhere from calculating a simple average to determining double-declining balance amortization. Excel, when installed, provides more than 230 worksheet functions. The number of functions available on your system can be even higher, because you can add functions through the use of special add-ins.

Inserting Functions

Excels Insert Function feature saves you a great deal of effort when it comes to putting functions into your worksheets. It puts a large library of functions - mathematical, financial, logical, and others right at hand for your convenience. To use it, follow these steps:
Select the cell you want to put the formulas result into. Click the Insert Function button, which is positioned just to the left of the Formula bar, or choose Insert Function. Excel displays the Insert Function dialog box. Excel provides two ways to narrow down the number of functions from which you can choose. The first method involves searching for a function by entering a plain-English description of what you want the function to do, and then clicking Go. The second method requires you to use the category drop-down list to select the category of function you want. There are several categories of functions, such as Statistical, Database, Date & Time, and so on. There are also two special categories: Most Recently Used and All. The Most repeatedly using the same ones, you dont have to go hunting for them. The All category is every function in all the categories.

Inserting Functions
When you search for a function or choose a function category, the list of functions at the bottom of the dialog box changes to reflect the appropriate options. Scroll down if necessary until you reach the name of the function you want to employ, and then click it. A description of both the structure and usage of the selected function appears at the bottom of the Insert Function dialog box. Click the OK button to proceed.This brings up the Function Arguments dialog box. Based on the cell you selected before you started to insert a function, along with the function you selected, Excel automatically tries to guess which range of cells you intend to apply the function to.You can adjust the range or change it entirely to suit your desires if Excel guesses wrong.The result of the formula, if applied to the specified range, is shown at the bottom of the dialog box. Excel tentatively enters the function formula into the selected cell and displays it in the Formula bar. Any changes you make in the range at this stage, however, are automatically reflected in both places, and you can abort the function formula entirely by clicking the Cancel button or pressing the Esc key. The formula result at the bottom of the dialog box changes along with any modifications you make. If the dialog box is obscuring a part of the worksheet that you want to see, you can of course drag it out of the way. If you want to keep the automatically selected range (if any), no extra action is required. If you want to change the range, simply select a new one with your mouse on the worksheet. Continue to select cells or ranges for each value as needed for the particular function youre using. When you are satisfied with the values, click the OK button and the function formula is finalized.The result will show up in the selected cell.

Using AutoSum

Practically everyone who uses Excel wants to total rows and columns. That makes SUM the one function used more often than any other. Microsoft has made it even easier to use by putting an AutoSum button on the Standard toolbar, symbolized by the Greek letter sigma ().

Creating Charts

Creating Charts with Chart Wizard

Excels Chart Wizard makes creating charts about as easy as it can possibly get. Just let it know what it is you want to chart, and then its just a matter of making a few selections and your chart is on the page. To make a chart with Chart Wizard, follow these steps:
Select the range of data you want to make a chart from .You might not want to select all the data thats available. In this case, weve chosen only the quarterly breakdowns by region, leaving out the totals. Click the Chart Wizard button in the toolbar. This brings up the first Chart Wizard dialog box, Chart Type .

Creating Charts with Chart Wizard

Under Chart type, choose the kind of chart you want to create. The default choice is Column, but there are many others to pick from. Under Chart sub-type, choose the specific variety of that chart type that you want to use. As you click each of the visual subtype representations, a description of the typical use of that subtype appears below it. If you want to see what your data would look like, click the Press and Hold to View Sample button. The sample thats presented gives only an approximation of the appearance of the actual finished chart, as its crammed into a very small area, but it should tell you what you need to know in a general sense.

Creating Charts with Chart Wizard

If you want still more options of exotic chart types, click the Custom Types tab. When youve made your selections about chart types, click the Next button. This brings up the second Chart Wizard dialog box, Chart Source Data. This shows a more accurate representation of how the finished chart will look. By default, the data series is taken from the rows of the selected range. If you want it taken from the columns instead, click the Columns radio button. You might want to try both to see which way your data is better presented. Just click each radio button in turn until youre satisfied with the presentation.

Creating Charts with Chart Wizard

If you want to view the range of cells that each row or column of data is taken from, click the Series tab. Click the Next button to proceed. This brings up the third Chart Wizard dialog box, Chart Options . Type a title for the chart in the Chart title edit box. If you want any text below categories on the bottom part of the chart, type it into the Category (X) axis edit box. If you want any text to the left of the values that range from the top to the bottom of the chart on the left side, type it into the Value (Y) axis edit box.

Creating Charts with Chart Wizard

You can specify various options by clicking the other tabs, which will be covered in depth later in this chapter. Generally speaking, Excel does a very good job of interpreting the data you feed it and deciding which options to add for the most pleasing chart appearance, so its not a good idea to mess with the other settings unless you have very specific requirements. They can all be altered after the chart is completed anyway (we will explore their uses for chart modification in a later section). Take the time to explore the various settings, however, because the sample chart display lets you see the effects of the different settings. Many of the options (such as data labels) merely clutter the chart to the point where it becomes useless as a conveyor of information. If you do want to add extras to the chart at this point, however, anything you put in can be removed after the chart is completed. Click the Next button to proceed. This brings up the fourth and final ChartWizard dialog box, Chart Location.

Creating Charts with Chart Wizard

This is the simplest step of all. All you need to do is to decide whether you want the chart to be included in the worksheet it draws its data from or to be created as a separate chart sheet. Unless you have a very high-resolution system or a very small chart, its usually best to make the chart on a separate sheet. If you try to put a large chart on the same worksheet as the original data, its usually difficult to fit both so that theyre readable. Click the appropriate radio button, and then click the Finish button. The chart is created. If it is on a separate chart sheet, it looks like the one shown in Figure 14-6. If its on the original worksheet, Excel places the chart right smack in the middle of the worksheet, as shown in Figure 14-7, and you have to move it manually as well as resize it so that all the data is shown. To move it, place the pointer anywhere within the table (so long as it isnt over a table element such as the title), hold down your mouse button, and drag it to its new location. To resize it, click any of the sizing handles around the edge and drag the handle in the direction you want to increase the size.