Introduction to Computing (COMP-01102) Telecom 1st Semester

LAB EXPERIMENT NO.03

Familiarization with important features and facilities of MS Excel

Name: Signature & Grade: ___________________

Roll No: Date : _______________________________

OBJECTIVE:
 To become familiar with the basic features and facilities of spreadsheets and Excel

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED:
 Desktop Computer
 MS Office Software

INTRODUCTION:
Microsoft excel is an electronic spreadsheet program. The term worksheet refers to the row-and-
column matrix sheet on which you work upon, and the term spreadsheet refers to this type of
computer application. In addition, the term workbook will refer to the book pages that constitutes the
standard excel document. The workbook can contain worksheets, chart sheets, or macro modules.
The appeal of spreadsheet programs is the ability to change one value and watch all other values that
depend on the first value automatically change when the spreadsheet is recalculated. It is an
environment that can make number manipulation easy.

THE WORKBOOK:
An excel file is called a workbook. Each new workbook consists of three worksheets. Each
worksheet consists of columns and rows that intersect to form boxes called cell’s in which you enter
data. The tabs at the button of the workbook [labeled sheet1, sheet2, sheet3, and so on] let you flip
through the worksheets by clicking them with the mouse.

RANGE REFERENCE:
Ranges are referred by their anchor points [the upper left and the lower right corners], connected by a
period sign. Ex: the range A1:C2 contains cells A1, B1, C1, A2, B2, and C2

ROWS AND COLUMNS:

In an Excel Worksheet there are 16384 rows and 256 columns. A row is defined as the horizontal
space that is going across the window. Numbers are used as row labels to designate each row’s
location. . Rows are named as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. A column is defined as the vertical space that is going
up and down the window. Letters are used as column labels to designate each column’s location.
Columns are named as A, B, C, D, etc.

CELLS:
Tables are formed of columns and rows. Each box in a table (the intersection of a row and a column)
is called a cell. Cells are named as A1, A2… B1, B2… Z1, Z2… depending on the location they are
found. In each cell you can enter one of the following types of data:

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 Text: any combination of letters, numbers, and spaces.

 Number data: numeric characters 0 to 9 and any of these special characters [+ - /]
 Formulas: algebraic expressions using numbers, functions, mathematical operators, and cell
addresses that tell EXEL what operations to perform on numbers or the contents of the
referenced cells.

CELL REFERENCES:
Cell references are the combination of column letter followed by row number.

THE STANDARD TOOLBAR:

This toolbar is located just below the menu bar at the top of the screen and allows a quick access to
basic Excel commands.

 NEW: to create a new workbook.

 OPEN: to open an existing workbook.
 SAVE: to save a workbook.
 PRINT: to print the worksheet.
 SPELL CHECK: to correct spelling errors on the worksheet.
 ZOOM: to change the size of the worksheet that appears on the screen.

FORMATING TOOLBAR:
The contents of a highlighted cell can be formatted in many ways. Fonts and cell attributes can be
added from shortcut buttons on the formatting bar.

ENTERING DATA:
 Click the cell in which you want to enter data; this will select the cell, and the word Ready
appears in the status bar. [The selected cell is also called active]
 Type the text, number, or formula. As you type, the word Enter appears in the status bar and
the typed data appears both in the cell and in the Formula bar
 Press Enter to accept the data. You can also press Tab to enter the data and move to the next
cell to the right or one of the Arrow keys to enter the data and move to the next cell in the
direction of the arrow key pressed.

ENTERING TEXT AND CONSTANTS:

Text entered in a cell appears left aligned Numbers, dates, and times appear right aligned To enter
a number to be left aligned, precede the entry with a single quotation mark (‘).

EDITING CELL CONTENTS:

 Click the cell in which you want to edit data.
 To begin editing, click the formula bar or press F2 or double-click the cell. This put you into
edit mode.
 Perform your editing.

DELETING CELL CONTENTS:

Select the cell and press delete button this will not delete the cell itself it just delete the content.

COPYING DATA:
 Select the cell

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 Click copy button on the standard bar or from the edit menu or press CTRL+C
 Select the cell in which you want to place the copy.
 Click paste button on the standard bar or from the edit menu.

MOVING DATA:
 Select the cell.
 Click the cut button on the standard bar or from the edit menu or press CTRL+X
 Select the cell in which you want to place the copy.
 Click paste button on the standard bar or from the edit menu.

CHANGING COLUMN WIDTHS AND ROW HEIGHTS:

Row height is automatically adjustable with the font size. To adjust the column width
 Place the mouse cursor on the right border of the column heading and drag to the desired size.
 Double-click the right border of the column heading.
 Choose Format, Column, Width, from the menu bar.

SORTING A COLUMN:
You can sort some rows (or some range of cells) in the table, by any column, in ascending or
descending order. To do this, just select a range of cells, click the Sort item in the Data menu, and
select the columns by which you want to do the sort.

FORMULA:
A formula is an algebraic expression using numbers, functions, mathematical operators, and cell
addresses that tell Exel what operations to perform on numbers or the contents of the referenced
cells.

ENTERING FORMULAS:
All formulas in Excel must begin with an equal sign (=).
 Then write the formula which is displayed in the formula bar
 Result of the calculated formula is displayed in the actual cell.
 Ex: Write 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 into A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5 respectively. Then write =SUM
(A1:A5) into the cell A6.
Changing the number in any of the cells in range A1:A5 and the value of A6 are automatically
recalculated.

ORDER OF OPERATIONS:
Excel calculates formulas from left to right, and respects the following order of operations:
Exponents, Multiplication, and Division, and then Addition and Subtraction.

COPYING A FORMULA TO OTHER CELLS:

Worksheets frequently use similar formulas across rows or down columns. There is no need to enter
each formula separately; just copy the formula from one cell to another. Suppose you want to add
the numbers in B1:B5, also. Instead of writing =SUM (B1:B5) into B6, you can just copy A6 to B6.
You know that the formula in A6 was =SUM (A1:A5) but it will be automatically turned to =SUM
(B1:B5) during the copy operation.

CONSTANT ADDRESSING VS RELATIVE ADDRESSING:

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As you see in the section above, when you copy some formula to another cell, the range in it
automatically changes. This is because there is relative addressing. To prevent this, you can use the $
sign in front of the cell addresses. Suppose that you write =SUM ($A$1:$A$5) in A6. When you
copy it to B6, the formula will remain exactly the same, and you will see 15 in both A6 and B6.

INSERTING CHARTS INTO YOUR WORKSHEET:

Charts (graphs) are visual representations of numbers. Instead of seeing many numbers all together,
we usually prefer to see a chart that represents everything visually. Whenever there is an election,
for example, all the TV channels show the results by using some kind of graphs. It is more easily
understandable to human beings.

CHART TYPES:
The major chart types are:
 PIE: use to show the relationship among the parts of a whole.
 BAR: use to compare at a given point in time.
 COLUMN: use to emphasize the difference between items.
 LINE: use to emphasize trends and the change of values over time.

CREATING CHART:
A chart can be a part of a worksheet or on a separate worksheet. Both types of charts are linked with
the worksheet data and automatically changes when the worksheet data changes. To insert a chart
 Just select the corresponding columns (or ranges).
 Click Chart item in the Insert menu.
 Select the chart type and click NEXT two times.
 Enter the Chart title, and select a data label style and click NEXT again.
 Now click Finish.
The chart is inserted into your worksheet. Changing the values in some of the cells of the range, the
chart is automatically updated to reflect these changes.

Home Tasks
1. Prepare the following table: (“Course” should be in A1!)

2. Write =B2*D2 in E2. Now, you should see 16 in E2.

3. Copy E2 to E3, E4, E5 and E6. You should see 12, 8.1, 13.2, and 11.1 respectively.
4. Write =SUM (E2:E6) in G8. Now you should see 60.4 in G8.
5. Write =SUM (B2:B6) in G9. You should see 18 in G9.
6. Write =G8/G9 in G10. You should see 3.355556.
7. Decrease the number of digits after the decimal point to two. I.e. obtain 3.36.

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8. Change C3 to A and D3 to 4. Realize that E3 changed automatically to 16, G8 to 64.4, G10

to 3.58
9. Sort the table in descending order by the “Worth” column. To do this, you should select the
whole (!!!) table click the Sort item in the Data menu
10. Insert a Pie chart into your worksheet to show the effect of each course on your GPA. To do
this you should select A2:A6 and E2:E6 and then insert the chart. The chart will show what is
the percentage effect of each course grade on your GPA? The effect depends on both the
credit of the course and your grade. The chart should look like this:

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