VCAE: EXCEL Lesson 1 Please send comments to Author: Zahra Siddiqui at zed_ess@hotmail.com Concepts Covered: Cell Address; Cell Pointer; Moving across Cells Constants: Entering, Editing, Formatting Using AutoFill to Enter, Copy Constants Editing Lists EXCEL Chart Wizard Microsoft EXCEL allows the user to track, calculate and analyze numbers. It also provides the facility of charts to depict information visually. EXCEL is a spreadsheet, consisting of a square grid of cells in which you can enter numbers, text or formulas. In EXCEL the columns are labeled with letters (as A, B, C,..., Z, AA, AB,..., BA, BB,... going on for a total of 256 columns) while the rows are labeled with numbers (as 1,2,3,... for a total of 65536 rows). The cell address consists of the column letter followed by the row number e.g. C(3) 1 is the cell in the column C and row 3. MOVING FROM CELL TO CELL Fig. 1.1 The cell C3 is the cell with the dark outline. The cell pointer is the dark outline of the currently selected cell. For easy movement of the cell pointer use the mouse to click on any particular cell. Then to go to a different cell simply click on the new cell. Note that the mouse pointer is the fat plus sign with the white inside and the black outline. To move the cell pointer you can also use the arrow keys. The movement to different cells corresponds to the direction of the arrow key used. You can also move the cell pointer by using TAB, ENTER, SHIFT+TAB, or SHIFT+ENTER. Fig. 1.2 The dark outline of cell C(3) is the cell pointer. Note the Name Box in the upper left hand corner where C(3) is written and the shape of the mouse pointer (the fat plus sign). Another way to move to a particular cell is to replace the current cell address in the Name Box (in the upper left-hand corner of the screen) with the address of the cell to which you want to move. 1 Note that this is not the conventional notation used for cell referencing in EXCEL. We will use the notation in which we write the row number in brackets to make the transition to the mathematical notation easier.
CONSTANTS Cells contain constants or formulae. This lesson focuses on constants. Constants can either consist of numbers or text, entered directly in the cell. To enter a constant first select the particular cell in which you want the entry to be made. Then type the constant (number or text) and move to the next cell. This will enter the constant in the cell. Enter 3.14159 in cell B(3). Enter Pi in cell B(2). The Pi serves as a description for the number entered in cell B(3). This illustrates the most general use of text which is to clarify the meaning of the numerical entries in a spreadsheet. In other words the text serves as a label for numerical entries. Edit Line Editing Constants To edit constants double click the particular cell containing the data you want to edit and after making the changes either press ENTER (to enter the changes) or ESC (to cancel the changes). The changes can also be made on the edit line on top by selecting the cell and clicking on the edit line. Questions: Fig. 1.3 Either edit by selecting the cell or by making changes to the edit line. 1. Change the entry 3.14159 to 56 by clicking on the cell. 2. Change 56 back to 3.14159 using the edit line. FORMATTING CONSTANTS To format text select the cell that contains the text. Then either use the formatting buttons on the formatting toolbar or choose CELLS from the FORMAT menu on the main menu bar to change the options on the Alignment and Font Tabs. To format numbers you can again use the formatting buttons on the formatting toolbar or use the procedure described below. Displaying Numbers with a Specified Category and Format 1. Select the particular cell in which you want the formatting to be done.
2. Go to the FORMAT menu on the main menu bar. 3. Select CELLS 4. Select the NUMBER tab. This allows you to choose a category and format of the numbers. Fig. 1.4 Selecting Cells from the Format menu. Fig. 1.5 Selecting the Number Tab to choose category and format. Cause EXCEL to display 3.14159 as 3.142. Note that only the display is changed. The entry in the cell remains the same. If you move the cursor to cell B(3), you will see the full entry in the formula bar at top. ENTERING A SEQUENCE OF NUMBERS To enter a sequence of numbers select the first cell in which you want to enter a number. Enter the number and move to the next cell to make the next entry. This manual entry method is one way to enter numbers in a sequence i.e. numbers that increase or decrease by a constant amount. Enter the following numbers in the given cells; A(1):1, A(2):2,... A(10):10 An easier way to enter a sequence of numbers (known as AutoFilling a range) is particularly useful when very lengthy sequences of numbers need to be entered. Place the mouse here AutoFilling a Range 1. Instead of entering all the numbers manually just make the first two entries. 2. Select the two cells which contain the entries. The lower cell will be dark, the upper will be white, and there will be a dark line around the two. There will be a small square at the bottom right corner of the two highlighted cells. 3. Move your mouse to the dot at the bottom right of the lower cell. When you are close enough to the dot, the Fig. 1.6 Step 2 of AutoFilling. Note how the shape of the mouse pointer changes to the thin plus sign.
mouse will change into a thin plus sign; this means you are on the dot. Do not confuse the thin plus sign with a fat white plus sign that is fat with black borders and a white inside. 4. Now drag the mouse down the column. As you drag it down, you will note that a little yellow square (known as ToolTip) pops up next to the mouse which contains the number in the sequence that goes in each cell. Move the mouse down until the last number in the sequence appears in the ToolTip. 5. Let go of the mouse. The sequence of numbers appears in the range. Fig. 1.7 Dragging down the mouse. Note the ToolTip. Use the above procedure to make the following entries: B(1):1, B(2):2,.., B(100):100 When you try out this exercise the advantage of this method over manual entry becomes apparent. This procedure can be used for many different types of sequences. Using AutoFill to Copy the Same Number. 1. Enter the same number in the first two cells of the range. 2. Select the two cells which contain the entries. The lower cell will be dark, the upper will be white, and there will be a dark line around the two. There will be a small square at the bottom right corner of the two highlighted cells. 3. Move your mouse to the dot at the bottom right of the lower cell. When you are close enough to the dot, the mouse will change into a thin plus sign; this means you are on the dot. Do not confuse the thin plus sign with a fat white plus sign that is fat with black borders and a white inside. 4. Now drag the mouse down the column. As you drag it down, you will note that a little yellow square (known as ToolTip) pops up next to the mouse which contains the number being copied. Move the mouse down until the required number of copies has been entered. 5. Let go of the mouse. The number will appear throughout the range. Fig. 1.8 Step 2 of using AutoFill to copy the same number. Use the above procedure to enter the number 10 from C(1) to C(100).
LISTS The above exercises have created what may be referred to as lists, a range of numbers listed in a particular column. These lists may sometimes be very long and it may not be very feasible to use the cursor to move down the list a large number of times. To move to the last cell of the list from the first it is more convenient to use the following procedure: 1. Move to the first cell of an existing list. For instance in the list created in the previous exercise (from B(1) to B(100)) select the cell B1using the cursor. 2. Now press CTRL and the down arrow keys together. This will move you to the cell B100 which is the last cell of the list. 3. To move back to B(1) from B(100) simply press CTRL and the up arrow keys together. This will move you to B(1). EDITING LISTS We will often want to move and copy lists of constants. Moving Lists 1. Select the cells that you want to move. 2. Move the mouse pointer (the fat plus sign) to the border of the selected range of cells. The pointer will become an arrow. 3. Drag the arrow to move the selected range to the new location. The little yellow square (ToolTip) pops up to give the destination. 4. Let go of the mouse to move the range to the new location. Fig.1.9 Copying cells. Note that the mouse becomes an arrow. Move entries from A(1)-A(10) to E(1)-E(10). The move the entries in E(1)-E(10) back to A(1)-A(10). Copying Lists 1. Select the cells that you want to copy. 2. Move the mouse pointer (the fat plus sign) to the border of the selected range of cells. The pointer will become an arrow.
3. Press and hold CTRL and drag the arrow to copy the selected range to the new location. A little yellow square (ToolTip) pops up to indicate the you are copying instead of moving the range of selected cells. 4. Let go of the mouse to copy the range to the new location. Copy entries in A(1)-A(10) to E(1)-E(10). CREATING AN EXCEL CHART USING THE CHART WIZARD Data series can be written in the form of lists. It is sometimes very useful to have a visual display of a particular data series or numerical information. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use the EXCEL Chart Wizard. To illustrate the working of the Chart Wizard we will work through an example. 1. Enter the data in Figure 1.8 that has to be put in the chart. 2. Once the data has been entered select the data. 3. Press the Chart Wizard button on the standard toolbar. 4. Select the Chart Type. You can either use one of the standard types or use a Custom Type. In this particular case select the XY (Scatter) option from the Standard Types. Now click Next. 5. Confirm the source data and click Next. Fig. 1.10 The Data that will be displayed. 6. Write down the Chart Title as Example, the x-axis as X and the y-axis as Y. You may make changes to gridlines in the Gridlines Tab. You can also decide on the placement of the legend by moving to the Legend Tab or the placement of the labels by moving to the Labels Tab. Once you have done this, click Next. 7. Select whether you want to place the chart in the existing worksheet or as a separate sheet. Click Finish to display the Chart. Fig. 1.11 Selecting the data and pressing the Chart Wizard button on the Standard Toolbar. The button is the shaded icon.
EXERCISE 1. Enter the following list of numbers in EXCEL; A1: 113.8586, A2: 115.1126, A3: 121.3885, A4: 122.6434, A5: 123.8984. Use the formatting procedure described in the lesson to reduce the number of decimal places of the numbers to two. Answer: 2. Construct the following sequence from cells A1 to A50 using Autofill; A1:2, A2:4, A3:6,, A50:100. a. Move the list to cells B1 to B50. b. Copy the list of numbers back into cells A1 to A50. 3. Construct the following table. You will need to use formatting for the text and Autofill for the entries in the first column. The table lists the winning speeds at the INDY 500 races for different years. Note that the entries in the first cell of each column are the labels that describe the numerical entries that go in the table. Year WinSpeed 11 74.59 12 78.72 13 75.93 14 82.47 15 89.84 16 84 19 88.05 20 88.62 21 89.62 22 94.48 23 90.95 24 98.23 25 101.13 26 95.904 27 97.545 28 99.482 29 97.585 30 100.448 31 96.629 4. Plot the data from Question 1 in the form of an XY (Scatter) Chart using the EXCEL Chart Wizard. Remember to give appropriate headings to the chart and the x and y axis.
5. Plot the data from Question 1 in the chart type Column (the option in the first step of the Chart Wizard). This will plot the data in the form of a bar chart. 6. For the data in Question 1 assume that WinSpeed = a + b YEAR a. Give estimates for the constants a and b in the above equation. Answer: a is approximately 65 and b is 1. b. Is it plausible to assume that the data in Question 3 is represented by a straightline equation? (Hint: Look at the Charts that you made in Questions 4 and 5) Answer: It should be plausible if the Scatter plot shows a scatter that can be approximated by a straight line. This is in fact the case so the straight line is a good approximation.