Excel workshop week 1
Activity 2 Income
Income
Scenario:
We are going to design a basic spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel. We will populate the cells
with information and then using a SUM or Autosum formula, calculate the total bookings for
the five months. We will use a multiplication formula to work out the income for each
category, and then, calculate the total income using SUM or Autosum. formatting to add
currency and decimal places and then centre align the heading using Merge and Centre. We
also need to increase the width of column A to fully display the data.
Process: Open a new workbook in Excel and add the following information in the correct
cells as shown below:
Method:
We need to work out the total bookings for Driving range lessons for the five months May to
September, the answer must appear in cell G4 so click your G4 cell to make it active. You
could type =B4+C4+D4+E4+F4 ENTER. This would work but is a very inefficient method of
working, so instead lets use the SUM method and type =SUM(B4:F4) press Enter. Follow
those steps to find the total bookings for Full round, remember that you are working in the
next row so the cell references become B5 to F5. Complete the spreadsheet by working your
way down the list.
Imagine that the list that you have to calculate the total bookings for is much longer, it
becomes repetitive and inefficient so fortunately there are two other methods that can help
speed things up. The first is called Autosum, this can be used to add a range of cells together
in a single row or a column. The method is very simple. Click the cell where you want the
answer to appear, in this case it is G5, click the Formula tab on the Ribbon and then the
Autosum icon.
Activity Designed by Stephen Reed for SACC
Excel workshop week 1
Activity 2 Income
A dotted line called a Marquee appears around the cells that Autosum thinks you want to
use, if it is correct click enter to complete the calculation. Now repeat those steps for the
next row across for the Full day pass bookings.
There seems to be a problem here, Autosum has selected the wrong range of cells to add
up, this is because Autosum likes to work down columns of numbers and not across rows.
(we can override the Autosum by clicking and dragging across the correct range of cells but
this becomes time consuming and can be inaccurate if wrong cells are selected in error).
Press ESC on the top right of your keyboard and delete the entry in cell G5.
To complete the column, we will use a replication method, we know the formula is correct
in cell G4 so we will use this to replicate the same formula down the column, only the cell
reference for the row will change.
Click in cell G4 so it becomes active, move your cursor to the bottom right corner of the cell,
it becomes a small black cross, now click and drag down the column to include the Monthly
pass cell, let go of your mouse and your column has been populated with the total bookings
for each category.
Ok, next step is to calculate the income for each category, now that our bookings column
has been completed it is a simple process of working out the income by multiplying the
bookings in cell G4 by the rate in cell H4, display the answer in cell I4 (i four). Now go for it
and use replication to complete the column.
Last calculation is to find the total income and display it in cell I9 (i nine). Considering the
different methods you know, which is the most efficient way of working out the answer?
You should be thinking Autosum!!
Activity Designed by Stephen Reed for SACC
Excel workshop week 1
Activity 2 Income
Next step is to format columns H and I as currency so highlight those two columns.
On the ribbon look for the Cells group and click on Format and then click on Format cells at
the bottom of the list.
From the Category options select Currency, use the drop down arrows to select 2 for
decimal places and add the £ if not displayed already from the drop down symbols list, click
OK.
The Income title needs to be Merged and Centred across the cell A1 to I1. If you
remembered how to do this, you may already have completed this step when you first
created the spreadsheet.
Learning Outcomes:
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Entered data in cells
Increased cell widths
Multiplied two cells together using cell references (multiplication formula).
Totalled a range of cells together using the SUM formula
Used Autosum to add a range of cells in a column
Used formula replication to repeat a formula to complete a column of calculations
Used formatting to change cell data to Currency displaying two decimal places
Merged and Centred the title
Save your Income spreadsheet in your Excel workshops folder on P drive.
Activity Designed by Stephen Reed for SACC