Intro to Spreadsheets with MS Excel
A spreadsheet, fundamentally, is a calculating tool. As word
processing has largely replaced the use of typewriters, using a
spreadsheet has many advantages as compared with using a
hand calculator. Among the major advantages: unlike a typical
hand calculator, a spreadsheet:
 Can produce a highly detailed document, with raw data,
calculated data, graphs, and explanations;
 Can easily recalculate when data that a calculation
depends upon is changed.
You can start the Excel program by clicking Start, All Programs,
Microsoft Office 2013, Excel 2013. The 2013 version presents a
screen like that shown below.
Formula bar
Notice at the bottom of the screen the tab labeled Sheet1.
Older versions of Excel initially present 3 tabs (for 3 different
worksheets). A worksheet is sort of an Excel document within a
workbook; the latter is an Excel data file. Thus, a workbook is
made up of worksheets, each of which typically appears as a
grid with lettered columns and numbered rows. The
intersection of a column and a row is a cell. A cell’s address
combines its column and row label. E.g., the cell in column G
and row 3 has the address G3. The “Namebox” shows the name
(if one exists) or the address of the cell that currently has the
cursor.
You can edit a cell’s contents. A cell may have its display value
defined in any of several ways:
 By a “raw data” value that you enter. E.g., you might enter
a text value (also known as a “character string”) of nonnumeric data, or a number.
 By a formula, which is an instruction to the computer on
how to compute the value to be displayed.
Note the formula bar, which shows how the value of the cell
named in the Name Box is defined. When a cell is defined by a
formula, the formula bar will show the formula; the cell will
show the value of the formula. A cell may be edited in its own
space, or in the formula bar.
Formatting issues
How can we give a cell more space to show its value?
 By placing the cursor at the right edge of a column whose
width we wish to change, in the row in which columns are
labeled, we can perform a drag-and-drop operation to
make the column wider or narrower.
 By placing the cursor at the bottom edge of a row whose
height we wish to change, in the column in which rows are
labeled, we can perform a drag-and-drop operation to
make the row taller or shorter.
 Making a row taller does not, by itself, cause the data of a
cell to wrap around and make use of the space created to
display multiple rows within a cell. To cause the text to
wrap, you can click the Wrap Text button of the Home tab.
You can insert a worksheet into your workbook by clicking, on
the Home tab, the Insert drop-down arrow and choosing, from
the resulting menu, Insert Sheet. Alternately, click the circled +
button at the bottom of the workbook.
You can delete an unwanted worksheet as follows. The
worksheet to be deleted should have the cursor. On the Home
tab, click the drop-down Delete arrow, and choose Delete
Sheet from the resulting menu.
You can edit the name of a worksheet (which appears on the
worksheet’s tab) as follows. Double-click on the worksheet’s
tab; edit the name; strike Enter.
Number formats
When a cell with a numeric value displays a string of the #
character, the cell isn’t wide enough to display its value.
Note the home tab has several buttons for formatting numbers.
 The $ button (Currency or Accounting Number format) can
be applied to a cell so that if the cell has a numeric value,
it is displayed with a currency symbol (by default, the
dollar sign, but other currency symbols can be used). Also,
commas are used when appropriate. Notice also that a
negative number in this format does not display a leading
minus sign; instead, the absolute value is shown in
parentheses. Example:
General format
Accounting
Number format
-87330.67
$ (87,330.67)
Comma format
(87,330.67)
 The comma format (the button on the Home tab showing
a comma) is like Accounting Number without a currency
symbol.
 The Percent format, induced by the button showing %,
causes a cell with a numeric value to display a percent
sign. E.g., the number .0875 in this format, if displayed
with enough digits, appears as
8.75%
 Note the Increase Decimal and Decrease Decimal buttons.
These can be used to change the number of decimal
places, or significant digits, displayed. Notice that Excel
will often displayed a rounded value – e.g., the value
discussed above might be displayed as 9% if we don’t
show many digits. However, if the cell is defined as 8.75%
or .0875, the latter value is used when the cell is involved
in a calculation.
 Other number formats are available from the listbox at the
top of the Number section of the Home tab. For example:
o If you want to use the Accounting Number format
with a currency symbol other than the $, from the
listbox menu, choose More Number Formats. The
resulting dialogbox has a Number tab with a
Symbol listbox, from whose menu you can choose
a different currency symbol.
o Scientific: Although it may not look like the
notation you learned in a high school science
course, it really is the same scientific notation,
perhaps in a different format. For example, a cell
with the value 526973.17 is displayed in scientific
notation as
5.2697317E+05
which represents 5.2697317×10+05
- thus, the “E” is short for “times 10 raised to the
power”.
Notice that data aligns, by default, in a cell as follows: text to
the left, numbers to the right. This can create a misleading
appearance in a wide column, especially in the hardcopy
version of a worksheet (which usually doesn’t show the grid).
E.g., the column header “Gross Income” shown above doesn’t
appear to be in the same column as the column of numbers
below and to the right of the header. You can change the
alignment of data in a cell by using the alignment buttons of the
Home tab. Boxer’s rule of thumb: column headers over
columns of numbers should be aligned right. As applied to the
example shown above, we get the much clearer version:
Formulas
A formula, in Excel, starts with an equal sign. Most formulas
involve calculations of arithmetic. The name or the address of a
cell is used as a variable for the value of the cell. The arithmetic
operators:
Operator
+
-
*
/
^
Explanation
Addition; also, as a
leading unary
operator
Subtraction; also,
as a leading unary
operator
Multiplication
Division
Raised to the
power
Example
=B10+B11
=+4+B10
=I2-I1
=-10+B6
=I13*9%
=I3/I4
=I16^2
It is often tempting, when a calculation seems easy, to enter
the result of a calculation into a cell rather than a formula.
Usually, you resist this temptation. If a data value, say, in B2, is
changed, and another cell, say D2, depending on the value in B2
is defined by the numeric result of a calculation rather than by
a formula, then the change in B2 leaves D2 incorrect. You
might forget to make the correction; even if you remember to
do so, you have to take the time to do so, and you risk making
an error in the recalculation. By contrast, if cell D2 defined by
an appropriate formula, then a change in B2 causes D2 to be
recalculated quickly and automatically.
Copying formulas: A common situation: many cells are
calculated using the same logic, but not the same data.
Therefore, when you copy a formula, the formula isn’t copied
character for character; rather, its logic is copied, but
adjustments may appear in cell references. In particular, all
parts of a formula copy exactly, except for relative cell
references (the only kind we have used so far). These are
adjusted according to the column and row translations
between the source cell copied from, and the destination cell
pasted to. For example, in the following,
we want to copy from D2 to D3, D4, D5, etc. When we copy
from D2 to D3, the column translation is from column D to
column D, a translation by 0 columns. Therefore, there is no
change (a change by 0 columns) in the column references of the
pasted formula. The row translation is from row 2 to row 3, a
translation of 3-2=1 – an increase – so all relative row
references in the pasted formula are increased by 1. Since the
copied formula is
=B2-C2
the formula pasted into
D3 is
=B3-C3
We have seen that the methods of Word may be used to copy a
cell. Also, if the source and destination cells of the intended
copy-and-paste form a contiguous rectangle, the tiny square in
the bottom right corner of the source cell(s) is a copy-and-paste
handle that can be dragged-and-dropped over the destination
cell(s) to achieve a copy-and-paste operation.
Functions
These are shortcuts to common calculations in formulas. A
function can be used the format
functionName(parameterList)
where the list of “parameters” or “arguments” represents the
data that the function operates upon. A parameter list is
occasionally empty. More often, there are one or more
parameters. If more than one parameter, adjacent parameters
are separated by a comma. A parameter may be any of
 A constant, like 75.2 or “hello” (without the quotation
marks)
 A cell, in which case the value of cell is used by the
function. Thus, you can think of a cell reference as a
variable – a symbol for the value of the cell.
 A complex expression, such as A5+B6
 A cell range. This is a rectangle of contiguous cells. Notice
that cell range is completely determined by the cells in its
top left corner and lower right corner; therefore, we
specify a cell range in notation of the form
topLeftCorner:bottomRightCorner
E.g., below, we see pictured
the cell range D10:E16
When a cell range is a parameter of a function, the function
operates on every cell of the range.
Some important functions:
SUM() – may have arbitrarily many parameters. It adds all of
those parameters that have numeric values, ignoring any
parameters that don’t have numeric values. Notice also that
the Autosum button of the Home tab can be used as a shortcut
for editing the use of the SUM function into the current
formula. When you use this button, Excel will guess a cell range
as the parameter list. If Excel’s guess is wrong, you can easily
correct it. For example, the formula
=SUM(B2:M2)
adds all of the values in those of the cells B2:M2 that have
numeric values.
MAX() – computes the maximum value among its parameters.
It yields the highest value among all of those parameters that
have numeric values, ignoring any parameters that don’t have
numeric values. For example, the formula
=MAX(B2:B13)
computes the largest numeric value found among cells B2:B13.
MIN() – computes the minimum value among its parameters. It
yields the lowest value among all of those parameters that have
numeric values, ignoring any parameters that don’t have
numeric values. For example, the formula
=MIN(B2:B13)
computes the smallest numeric value found among cells
B2:B13.
AVERAGE()– computes the average value among its those
parameters with numeric values, ignoring any parameters that
don’t have numeric values. For example, the formula
=AVERAGE(B2:B13)
computes the average numeric value found among cells
B2:B13. Notice that you might be tempted to compute an
average by using the form
=SUM(parameterList)/count(parameterList)
where, in the denominator, you use a literal constant (e.g., 8 if
there are 8 items you wish to average).
There are two problems with the latter form:
1. If you do the counting yourself, you could easily miscount.
2. The count may change if data changes cause a cell to
switch between numeric and non-numeric.
MEDIAN() – this gives the middle value among the parameters.
Both median and average are “measures of central tendency,”
but the median is less susceptible to distortion by extreme or
“outlying” values.
Notice that several of the functions discussed above are on the
menu obtained from the Autosum drop-down arrow. Selecting
from this menu is a shortcut for using the selected function in
the formula being edited.
In the worksheet shown below, copying O2 down column O
yields the division-by-0 error message:
We saw that this problem is caused by the failure of the copyand-paste operation to hold fixed the denominator of the
formula. We want the denominator to hold fixed at N15;
however, we saw it was adjusted to N16, N17, etc.
We see, then, that we need a different kind of cell reference,
one that will stay fixed through copy-and-paste operations. We
use the dollar sign in front of the column reference to hold the
column fixed; use the dollar sign in front of the row reference
to hold the row fixed. Such a reference is a fixed or absolute
reference, in contrast to the relative references used up until
now. Thus, a cell (e.g., G5) can appear in a formula in any of
the following notations:




G5 – relative in column, relative in row
$G5 – fixed in column, relative in row
G$5 – relative in column, fixed in row
$G$5 – fixed in column, fixed in row
Recall that when a formula is copied from one cell to another,
relative column references are adjusted by the column
translation between the source and destination cells of the
copy-and-paste, and relative row references are adjusted by
the row translation between the source and destination cells of
the copy-and-paste. All other parts of the formula, including
fixed references, are copied without modification. For
example, suppose we copy a formula from B16 to D20. Note
the column translation is from column B to column D, or 2
columns to the right. Therefore, relative column references are
adjusted by 2 columns to the right in the pasted formula.
Similarly, the row translation, from row 16 to row 20, is an
increase of 20-16=4 rows. Therefore, relative row references in
the formula are increased by 4. Therefore,
If the copied formula in B16 is Then the pasted formula in
D20 is
=B10*C4
=D14*E8
=B$10*C4
=D$10*E8
=$B10*C4
=$B14*E8
=$B$10*C4
=$B$10*E8
In the worksheet shown below, it appears that there is an error
of one cent in the value in E9:
This is because our formulas calculated numbers whose exact
values require more than 2 decimal places. In the total, these
fractions of a cent built up into the appearance of a 1 cent
error. We should realize that there is a difference between
rounding off a displayed value, and rounding off a calculated
value. It was the set of calculated values, not their rounded
displays, used in computing the total shown above. Therefore,
we’re ready to face the question of how to round off a
calculated value. The ROUND function is the key. Its format:
ROUND(expressionOfConcern, decimalPlaces)
where “expressionOfConcern” is the expression whose value
we’re concerned with, to be rounded off to the number of
decimal places indicated by the 2nd parameter. Therefore, in E2,
instead of using the formula
=D2*B$14
shown
above, a better formula:
=ROUND(D2*B$14, 2)
Suppose, instead, the rules by which taxes are computed are,
as shown below:
To obtain a formula for E2 (that should be copyable down
column E), we start from the principle that
Tax = net income * tax rate
The first factor, in E2, would be D2, as before. What about the
2nd factor? There are 2 possibilities. We need a function that
can correctly choose the tax rate. The IF function has this
capability. Its format:
IF(trueOrFalseExpression, expressionForTrue,
expressionForFalse)
where
 trueOrFalseExpression – an expression by which we decide
between 2 possibilities. The expression evaluates as either
TRUE or FALSE.
 expressionForTrue – expression the function evaluates if
the first parameter is TRUE
 expressionForFalse - expression the function evaluates if
the first parameter is FALSE
Thus, a formula for E2 above:
=ROUND(D2 * IF(D2>B$14, B$15, B$16), 2)
The first parameter of the IF function has the “Logical” data
type (this means having value TRUE or FALSE). Logical
expressions are often comparisons. The comparison operators:
Operator
>
>=
<
<=
=
<>
Meaning
Is greater than
Is greater than or
equal to
Is less than
Is less than or equal
to
Is equal to
Is not equal to
Example
D2>B$14
D2>=B$14
A25<0
J8<=K12
L3=M4
K7 <> M7
Suppose, in our Grades worksheet, we want to compute (by
formula) a student’s grade (in a copyable fashion).
Theoretically, we could nest multiple occurrences of the IF
function. That is, given a worksheet like the following,
we might use something like:
=IF(O2>=96%, “A+”, IF(O2>=90%, “A”, …))
where the “…” would have to be filled in with additional uses of
the IF function to distinguish among all grade possibilities. But
the resulting formula would be long, ugly, and error-prone.
The VLOOKUP function is often an alternative to multiple
nestings of the IF function when we need a formula that can
choose among 3 or more possibilities. Suppose further
development of our worksheet yields the following:
Example:
For the student with the 89% average,
look up this average in the list of
standards, find that it falls between the
88% and 90% standards, and conclude
that the student has an A- grade
corresponding to the 88% criterion.
Roughly, the above shows how the VLOOKUP function works.
This function takes the following form:
VLOOKUP(lookupValue,
rangeOfStandardsAndCorrespondingResults,
relativeColumnIndex)
where
 lookupValue – a data value to be looked up in a list of
standards. In the example above, use the student’s
percentage for this purpose.
 rangeOfStandardsAndCorrespondingResults – a cell range
of, typically, at least 2 columns. The first column of the
range is a list of standards. In order to guarantee correct
results, this list must be in ascending order. Other columns
of the range are for results that correspond, respectively
by row, to standards of the first column.
 relativeColumnIndex – number of the relative position,
within 2nd parameter, of the column with the desired
result.
Thus, for the problem discussed above, we get a worksheet like
the following:
In particular, notice the formula in P2:
=VLOOKUP(O2,R$3:S$15,2)
since O2, the student’s percentage, is the appropriate lookup
value;
R3:S15 is the appropriate range of standards (column R) and
corresponding results (column S) – we used R$3:S$15 to hold
the rows fixed when we copied the formula from P2 to cells of
other rows;
2 is the relative column index, since the desired result is in the
2nd column of the range specified by the 2nd parameter.
Imagine yourself charged with the task of determining pay
raises for a small staff of employees. You are subject to the
following constraints:
 The total of the raises must be at least 3.25% of the base
year’s total of salaries.
 The total of the raises must be at most $500 over 3.25% of
the base year’s total of salaries.
 Employees are rated from 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent). The
higher the rating, the higher the employee’s percentage
increase.
In the worksheet shown below,
in order to have a valid solution, we need
E12 < E10 < E13
Recall that a chain of equations or inequalities is an
abbreviation. The above is an abbreviation for
E12 < E10
and
E10 < E13.
In Excel, the AND operator is a function – a Logical function of
an arbitrary number of Logical parameters. If every parameter
is TRUE, then the AND function has the value TRUE; otherwise
(i.e., if any parameter is FALSE), the AND function has the value
FALSE. Thus, for 2 parameters, the AND function is described
by the following patterns:
x
y
AND(x,y) –
think of this
as “x and y”
TRUE
TRUE
FALSE
FALSE
TRUE
FALSE
TRUE
FALSE
TRUE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
OR(x,y) – NOT(x)
think of
this as “x
or y”
TRUE
FALSE
TRUE
TRUE
TRUE
FALSE
So, for cell E14 as shown above, to test for a valid solution, we
can use the formula
=AND(E12<=E10, E10<=E13)
This yields the following worksheet:
Better: since we should also have
I2 < I3 < I4 < I5 < I6
a better formula for E14 is
=AND(E12<=E10, E10<=E13, I2<=I3, I3<=I4, I4<=I5, I5<=I6)
One method of solving our pay raises problem: Take advantage
of the spreadsheet’s capability for recalculation and experiment
with the numbers in column I.
Other Logical functions include:
 OR – a function of arbitrarily many Logical parameters
(often, 2 parameters). It follows a pattern similar to that
of the AND function: If any parameter is TRUE, the OR
function is TRUE; otherwise (i.e., if all parameters are
FALSE) the OR function is FALSE.
 NOT – a function of 1 logical parameter. It yields the
logical opposite of its parameter’s value.
Another method of solving the pay raises problem: since a
spreadsheet is a calculating tool, we can use it to solve an
equation, an inequality, or a system of equations or
inequalities. The tool used for this purpose is the Goal Seek
tool, found on the Data tab by clicking What-If Analysis, Goal
Seek. Formulas imply equations or inequalities among the cells
of the worksheet. If, e.g., we fill in all but one of the
percentage increases in column I, we can use the Goal Seek tool
to find an acceptable value for the missing data value.
For example, given the worksheet shown below,
we can use the Goal Seek tool to find an appropriate value for
E6, one that will yield a valid solution to the pay raises problem,
as follows:
After clicking as described above, we get the Goal Seek
dialogbox:
We must fill in the three textboxes of the dialogbox:
 Set cell: give the name or address of a cell that you wish to
take a certain numeric value that it doesn’t currently have.
 To value: the value you want the cell given for the first
textbox to have. In the current example, we might use E10
for the Set Cell entry, and, say, 15000 (or any other
number between the values shown in E12 and E13) as the
To Value entry.
 By Changing Cell: give the name or address of the cell with
the unknown value – in current example, I6.
After filling these textboxes, click OK. Excel then computes and
displays its solution, which you can then approve or disapprove
via the OK or Cancel buttons, respectively. For example, we got
the following:
An amortization schedule is a worksheet that studies how a
loan is repaid. Important uses of an amortization schedule
include:
 Taxes – a schedule show interest payments, that, often,
are tax-deductible.
 Loans are often refinanced, especially when prevailing
interest rates decrease. The value owed on the initial loan
can be obtained from an amortization schedule; this value
then becomes the principal of a new loan, at the new
interest rate, replacing the initial loan.
Many loans are structured as “ordinary annuities.” An ordinary
annuity is governed by the following rules:
 An interest period coincides with a payment period.
 The periodic payment is due at the end of the period (i.e.,
on the last day of business of the period).
 All payments are of the same size (with the possible
exception of the last payment, which may be slightly
different due to a buildup of rounding).
Excel has a “payment” function that is used to compute the
signed periodic payment of an ordinary annuity. Its form:
PMT(periodicInterestRate, #interestPeriods,
signedPresentValue)
where
 periodicInterestRate is the rate of interest charged per
interest period (in our example, the monthly rate);
 #interestPeriods is the number of interest periods until the
loan is repaid (e.g., a 5-year loan with monthly payments
has 5*12=60 periods)
 signedPresentValue is
o signed because you might want to use a + or – sign to
indicate which way the money is paid (for a similar
reason, the value of the function is signed). The value
of the function and this parameter will have opposite
signs, so, to make the value of the function positive,
this parameter should be negative.
o presentValue: current value of the future payments,
discounted by the interest rate. At the beginning of
the loan, this is equal to the principal of the loan.
Thus, in the worksheet partially shown below,
an appropriate formula for C7 is
=PMT(I2, 60, -C4)
A modern spreadsheet program can generate a “chart” or
“graph” to illustrate relationships among the numbers of a
worksheet. To generate a chart:
 Block the data you want the chart to be based upon. This
should typically include certain text data, as well as
numbers – the text data you want to use is explanatory
(e.g., row headers and column headers).
 On the Insert tab, click the buttons and make the menu
selections corresponding to the type of chart you wish to
create.
As a result, a chart is created as a graphical object in the
worksheet it’s based upon. For example, a worksheet with the
following data (notice the following shows you can copy from
the cells of a worksheet into a Word document – the copied
cells enter the Word document as a Word table)
Model
Ford
Toyota
Chevy
Cadillac
Totals
September
13,983
15,034
10,347
4,902
October
12,095
15,329
10,448
4,706
November
12,784
14,832
10,582
4,892
December
14,021
15,832
11,204
4,901
44,266
42,578
43,090
45,958
can generate the following “clustered column” chart (notice the
following shows that an Excel chart can be copied into a Word
document):
Chart Title
20,000
15,000
10,000
x-axis labels
5,000
legends (color code explanations)
September
Ford
October
Toyota
November
Chevy
December
Cadillac
The chart above was created when the blocked cells included
row and column headers. If, instead, we did not include under
the block the row and column headers, but otherwise created
the same chart, it would look like the following:
Chart Title
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
1
2
Series1
Series2
3
Series3
4
Series4
Thus, failure to block the row and column headers caused us to
create a chart in which the labels and legends are useless as
explanations of the chart.
Once a chart is created, it is usually possible and desirable to
improve its appearance in various ways.
One way to improve a chart is to give it a useful chart title, one
with more explanation than the default text, “Chart Title”. The
chart title appears in a textbox on a chart, and can be edited in
familiar fashion. E.g., the 1st chart shown above can be
modified as the following.
4-month sales of selected models
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
September
October
Ford
Toyota
November
Chevy
December
Cadillac
When the cursor is on a chart in a workbook, the Chart Tools
tabs (Design and Format) appear. These have many tools for
altering the appearance of a chart.
E.g., the numbers shown will often have multiple possible
interpretations, not all correct; it may be desirable to add an
“axis title”. On the Design tab, you can click Add Chart Element,
Axis Titles, Primary Vertical; a textbox displaying vertical text is
then displayed, and you can edit this axis title as useful, e.g.,
4-month sales of selected models
16,000
14,000
Units sold
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
September
Ford
October
Toyota
November
Chevy
December
Cadillac
If, instead of Primary Vertical, you chose Primary Horizontal,
edited the resulting title, and dragged it to the top of the y-axis,
the chart would appear as follows:
Units sold
4-month sales of selected models
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
September
October
Ford
Toyota
November
Chevy
December
Cadillac
Suppose, instead of having a cluster for each month, you would
prefer a cluster for each model, with each model’s cluster
having a column for each month. With the cursor on the chart
in the worksheet, click Switch Row/Column. In the case of the
chart above, this modifies the chart to appear as:
Units sold
4-month sales of selected models
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
Ford
September
Toyota
October
Chevy
November
Cadillac
December
You could reasonably argue that both of the arrangements
made possible by the Switch Row/Column button are sensible.
Sometimes, one arrangement will make sense and the other
won’t.
Suppose a data value that a chart depends on is changed. Will
the chart modify automatically? Yes – this is part of a
spreadsheet’s ability to recalculate.
Suppose you wish to create a chart based on non-contiguous
data. E.g., suppose you want to focus, in the worksheet shown
above, on the September and December data. Thus, we want
to create a chart based on columns A, B, and E only.
 One way: If you hold down the Ctrl key as you block data,
non-contiguous data can be blocked. Proceed to create
the chart “as usual.”
 Another way: Block a contiguous block of data that
includes the data you want the chart based on; create the
chart “as usual”; click Select Data to obtain the dialogbox
shown below, and
use the Remove button to remove the unwanted data
series (October and November). In order to do that, you
may have to (we do in the current example) use the Switch
Row/Column button. The series to leave checked are those
you DON’T wish to remove when you click the Remove
button.
The chart shown below, created from non-contiguous data,
Season start sales
Units sold
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
-
September
Ford
December
Toyota
Chevy
Cadillac
is a “stacked column” chart. As this example demonstrates, a
stacked column chart is typically used to show how
components contribute to a total.
A line chart, as shown below, is often used to show
Sales of US models
16,000
14,000
Units sold
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
September
October
Ford
Chevy
November
Cadillac
December
how quantities change with respect to time (here, with respect
to months). Often, only one of the arrangements made possible
by the Switch Row/Column button makes sense for a line chart.
A pie chart, as shown below, is often used to illustrate the
proportions of a total contributed by individual components of
the total. This is especially true if you choose a style in which
the pie slices are labeled by their respective percentages.
December auto sales
11%
31%
24%
Ford
Toyota
Chevy
34%
Cadillac
A “scatter chart” is typically used to “graph data points” – e.g,
the chart shown below
Income tax data - selected clients
Deductions
State income tax
$500,000.00
$400,000.00
$300,000.00
$200,000.00
$100,000.00
$$-
$100,000.00 $200,000.00 $300,000.00 $400,000.00 $500,000.00 $600,000.00 $700,000.00 $800,000.00 $900,000.00
Gross income
plots the data values for Deductions and for State income tax
against individual clients’ Gross income. Note this chart type is
an exception to the guideline stated earlier that you should
include under the block row and column headers; we saw that
doing so may yield bad labels and/or legends. The useful
legends we got in the chart shown above came when we
clicked Add Chart Element; Legend; and chose a location for the
legends (this choice can be changed, as above, by drag-anddrop).
A high-low-close stock chart, such as is illustrated below,
Selected stock prices - February 31
$80.00
$70.00
$60.00
$50.00
$40.00
$30.00
$20.00
$10.00
$Apple Computer
Verizon
High Price
Low Price
Nike
Adidas
Closing Price
is typically used to illustrate changes in the value of a share of
stock or other financial asset for a time period. The chart is
based on data satisfying the following requirements: for each
“company,” there is a series of 3 numeric values, listed in the
worksheet in the following order: a high value (e.g., the high
price for the time period), followed by a low value (e.g., the low
price for the time period), followed by an intermediate value
(e.g., the closing price, which logically is somewhere between
the high and the low prices). For each “company” the chart
shows a vertical line segment, such that
 The high point of the segment has height equal to the
high data value.
 The low point of the segment has height equal to the
low data value.
 There is a marked point on the line segment whose
height is equal to the intermediate data value.
Note your computer doesn’t know, nor does it care, if the data
for a high-low-close stock chart represents stock prices. As long
as the conditions stated above in italics are satisfied, the data
may be used for a high-low-closed stock chart.
It’s often desirable to sort data in a worksheet. This can be by
blocking the data series you wish to sort by, and, on the Home
tab, click Sort and Filter; from the resulting menu, choose A-Z
for alphabetical or ascending numeric order, or Z-A for reverse
alphabetical order or descending numeric order. The Sort
Warning dialogbox, shown below, appears.
Usually, you should choose “Expand the selection.” What this
means is that as data is rearranged in the (usually, column)
blocked, corresponding rearrangement of data occurs in the
other columns (e.g., so that as “Apple Computer” is moved to
A3, the company’s prices are also moved to row 3). Otherwise,
data is only rearranged in the blocked column.
A cell can be given a name by entering the desired name into
the Name Box. This is often useful in large worksheets, because
a cell you might want to use in a formula might be
inconveniently offscreen as you edit the formula; a well-chosen
name might be more easily remembered than the cell’s
address. A cell’s name can be used as a reference to the cell in
a formula. A cell’s name in a formula is copied in copy-and-
paste operations, so, effectively, using a cell’s name in a
formula is to refer to the cell via a fixed reference. You can also
give a name to a range of data.
A common situation: The data you want to process in a
workbook is so voluminous that, rather than put it all into a
single worksheet, you prefer to break it into multiple
worksheets, so that the workbook is easier to read (especially,
in hardcopy). For example, you might prepare income tax
returns, using a different worksheet for each tax schedule you
use. This raises the following question: how does a formula
refer to a cell of a different worksheet? We see that if cell C2 of
our Schedule 1040 worksheet need to have the value of C10 of
the Schedule B worksheet, then C2 of our Schedule 1040
worksheet can use the formula
='Schedule B'!C10
More generally, a reference in a formula to a cell of a different
worksheet takes the form
‘nameOfSourceWorksheet’!cellReference
where the cell reference could be an address or a name, and
could be relative or fixed. E.g., other possibilities for the
formula above, depending on our copy-and-paste needs:
='Schedule B'!C$10
='Schedule B'!$C10
='Schedule B'!$C$10
We have emphasized the power of a spreadsheet to
recalculate. However, on (perhaps rare) occasions, you will
want to disable recalculation (temporarily). This is because
recalculation takes time; if you work on a large workbook and a
slow computer, recalculation might take an unacceptable
amount of time when you are editing a series of data values.
Suspension of automatic recalculation can be done as follows:
on the Formulas tab, click Calculation Options, Manual. As a
result, recalculation will not take place until you “manually”
signal that you want it to take place. There are multiple ways
of requesting manual recalculation, including
 Click the Calculate Now button; or
 Press the F9 key; or
 Switch back to automatic recalculation (typically, when
you no longer need manual recalculation) by clicking
Calculation Options, Automatic.
Note you usually will want to switch eventually to automatic
recalculation so that upon further changes in data, you can be
sure that formulas will recalculate.
Often, a worksheet is so large that cells you would like to view
simultaneously are too far apart to be seen simultaneously.
E.g., in the worksheet partially shown below,
we can’t see the student’s last name (column A) and the
student’s grade (column R) simultaneously. This would make it
easy for the instructor to record grades in the University’s
student records incorrectly.
Excel offers the following solution to this problem. You can
split your view of a worksheet both horizontally and vertically,
creating 4 “sub-worksheets.” Scrolling can take place
independently on the left and right sides of the vertical split,
and above and below the horizontal split. You can take
advantage of this to keep, say, columns A and R in view
simultaneously.
Here’s how it works. Put your cursor in the top left corner of
the bottom right subworksheet to be created. On the View tab,
click Freeze Panes, and choose Freeze Panes from the resulting
menu. E.g., with the cursor in C2, we froze the panes to get the
following:
Now, moving to R2 yields a view in which column C has
disappeared but columns A and B remain visible:
To remove the split, click the Freeze Panes button and select
Unfreeze Panes from the resulting menu.