Computer Studies Course for Rusty Readers by Titus Kamau - HTML preview

MICROSOFT EXCEL

Definition

This is a spreadsheet application program.

Opening Ms Excel

1. Click Start
2. Click All Programs
3. Click Microsoft Office
4. Click Microsoft Office Excel 2007

Alternatively, Click Start and then Run. On the run dialog box that appears, type the word excel. You can also open an existing Ms Excel document.

Terminologies

Cell – A cell is an interconnection of a row and a column

Cell reference – this is the address of a cell in terms of column letter followed by row number

Name box – contains the cell reference

Formula bar – indicates a formulae/ he content of a cell

Selecting characters

Columns

Position the pointer on the column letter until it changes to a thick arrow and then click

Rows

Position your cursor on the row number until it changes to a thick arrow and then click

Inserting a column

1. Click Insert
2. Click Column

Data entry

All numbers are aligned to the right. All letters are aligned to the left

Resizing a Column

Place the pointer at the column letter separator until it changes to a double sided arrow then drag to resize

Resizing a Row

Place the pointer at the row number separator and drag to resize

To select cells continuously

Select the 1st cell and then drag until the last cell

To select non-continuous cells

Select the 1st cell and while holding the CTRL key, select the other cells

Movement/navigation within a workbook

Arrow keys – are used to move towards the direction of the arrow by one cell

Mouse – click on any particular cell & the cell separator appears

CTRL + Home – takes you to the 1st cell in a worksheet

CTRL + End- takes you to the last edited end in the range

Worksheet – A page in a work book

Workbook – A collection of work sheets

Inserting a new worksheet

1. Click any worksheet
2. Right click on the selected worksheet
3. Then click insert in the floating menu that appears

Deleting a worksheet

1. Select the worksheet
2. Right click
3. Then click delete

Renaming a worksheet

1. Select the worksheet
2. Right click
3. Then click rename in the floating menu that appears

Hiding/ unhiding a row/ column

       To hide;

1. Select the column
2. Right click on the selected column
3. Then click hide

       To un hide;

1. Select the two adjacent columns neighboring the hidden column
2. Right click
3. Select unhide

Freezing panes

This is stopping sections of the window from scrolling.

Procedure

1. Click window
2. Click freeze panes

Series

There are two types of series.

• Linear series – increases with a constant value e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6/ 2, 4, 6, 8, 10/ 3, 6, 9, 12
• Growth series – does not increase with a constant value e.g. 1, 3, 7, 14, 23, 60, 150

Functions and Formulas

A function is a formulae designed & installed by excel whereas a formulae is designed by the user.

Generating totals

Procedure

Position your cursor where the total is to be displayed

N.B// percentage is a formula (it’s designed by the user). Foe example,

162/300 x 100%,

F4/300 x 100 %

F4/300*100

F4*100/300

IF Functions

It evaluates a condition and displays the results of the particular condition

IF(G2>79, “A”, IF(G2>69, “B”, IF(G2>49, “C”, IF(G2<47, “E”)))))

Conditions

A 80 and above

B 70 and above

C 50 and above

D 47 and above

E below 47

>means greater than

<means less than

Chart

This is the graphical representation of data to enhance its appearance.

Procedure

1. Select the data range
2. Click insert in the menu bar
3. Ten click chart and complete the chart wizard dialog box that appears

Chat wizard

-Select the type of chart, i.e. from the 14 samples by pressing & holding to view. Also click the custom type tab next to the standard types tab and select a custom type out of the 20 samples. Then click next

-Click the data range tab which helps you create a chart by selecting a cell that contains the data and labels you want in the chart. Select the data range and series in either rows or columns. Also you can choose the series by clicking the series type. Type the series information or enter the cell references in the name & values boxes. Then click next.

-On the legend tab, select whether to show or to hide the legend. Also select the placement either bottom, corner, top, right, left and click next

-Enter the chart location either as new sheet (chart) or object on (sheets) and click finish

Word Wrap

This is squeezing a text to fit in a single cell i.e. same column.

Procedure

1. Select a cell
2. Click format
3. Click cells
4. Click alignment
5. Click wrap text
6. Click Ok

Shrink to fit

This is compressing text to fit in a single cell.

Procedure

1. Select the cell
2. Click format
3. Click cells
4. Click alignment
5. Click shrink to fit
6. Click Ok

Chart Sheet

This is a worksheet that contains only a chart.

Embedded chart

This is a chart embedded on a text.

Types of spreadsheets

There are two types of spreadsheets

-Manual (in paper form)

-Electronic (in computer e.g. Ms Excel, Lotus 1, 2, 3)

Goal seek

It is a facility in Ms Excel that makes changes to a constant when it is modified.