INTRODUCTION TO SPREADSHEET

1.0 Overview
Main function: Spreadsheets are mainly used to manipulate and analyse figures. They were
built to assist Accountants and to some extent, Statisticians but a wide range of other
professions are also patronizing its use.
Examples: Typical examples of spreadsheet are, Microsoft Excel and Google Sheet. You will also
find spreadsheet in OpenOffice and LibreOffice. In this course we will use Microsoft Excel.
Structure: The sheet consists of Cells, Worksheets and Workbook.
A cell is a rectangular box in which we enter an item. It is referenced by using a column label
and the corresponding row label. For instance, B5. A group of cells is called, Range. We use the
top left cell’s reference:bottom right cell of the selected range. For example, B2:D8 is selected in
Figure 1 below.

Figure 1
Screen elements: Figures 1 and 2 below show the key screen elements. Ensure you can identify
the view buttons at the bottom right corner (not labeled). The view buttons show the same
sheet but in a different way. Also, take note of the Name Box and the Formula Bar.
Name Box: The Name box shows the active (selected) cell. We can also type a cell reference in
the Name box and press the Enter key to go that cell on the sheet.
Formula Bar: This shows the true contents of a selected cell. For example, if in C2 you type
=A2*B2 and 20 displays in C2, the true contents of C2 is will not be 20 but instead, =A2*B2. This
is because =A2*B2 is what will be displayed on the formula Bar. Note also that if you enter a
long text in a cell and there is nothing in the adjacent cell, part of that long text will spill into the
adjacent. This does not mean that the part which spilled into the adjacent cell will be in that cell
because the formula Bar will display nothing, implying there is nothing in the adjacent cell.

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F2 key/Formula bar to edit, Font, Comma Style, Decimals and Currency,

Figure 2

Figure 3

2.0 Editing and Formatting

 Select a cell and enter your text and either, press Enter or an Arrow key to move to a
different cell.
 To replace a text in the cell, select the cell and type the required content.

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  If you want to edit a content by making few changes, you can press the F2 key or
double-click the cell or click in the formula bar to insert the cursor to edit. Once done,
press the Enter key to effect the changes.
 You can resize a column by placing the mouse pointer on the right border of the column
ensuring the pointer changes a horizontal double-headed arrow. Then gently click and
hold the button down and drag to your right to increase the cell width or to your left to
decrease the column width.
 To format, select the cell or range and choose the required format from the Home
ribbon. Note that you can also right-click the required cell or range and choose, Format
Cells from the short-cut menu.
 Insert a Row/Column: Select where you want the new Row or Column to be.
Right-click anywhere in the selection and choose Insert. The new Row or Column will be
inserted.
 Delete a Row/Column: Select the Row(s) or Column(s) to be deleted.
Right-click anywhere in the selection and choose Delete. The Row(s) or Column(s) will be
deleted.
 Remove Contents or Format: To remove the contents of a cell or range, select the cell
or range and click the Delete key. You also choose the Clear command on the Home
ribbon to clear the contents or format.

3.0 Using Basic Formulae and Functions

In Excel, formulas start with equal (=) sign and may include some operators. In this introductory
course, we will use the following mathematical operators.

 + Addition
 - Subtraction
 * Multiplication
 / Division
 ^ Exponent
 () Bracket
Note that Excel uses BEDMAS (Bracket, Exponent, Division, Multiplication, Addition and
Subtraction) order of precedence. Hence =2+3*2^2 will display 14 and not 100.
We can use actual values or cell references pointing to the values in our formula. Howler, using
the cell references is better for two reasons. Firstly, it is flexible since changing the values in the
cells automatically redo the calculations to give you a new answer. Secondly, you can copy the
formula and paste in several cells to avoid retyping similar formulas for a number of cells.

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Using Functions
Spreadsheets have in-built formulas known as functions. Excel has a wide range of functionsbut
we will look at the following this course: SUM, AVERAGE, MIN and MAX.

 SUM – The sum or total of a list of numbers.

 AVERAGE – Average or mean of a list of numbers.
 MIN – The smallest, lowest and shortest.
 MAX - The biggest, highest and longest.
We write a function in the format (syntax), Name(argument). The Name is the name of the
function which must be spelt in the same way the program knows. The argument is the input
the function requires to return a value.
Example, =SUM(B2:B5) implies sum up numbers in the range, B2:B5. We can’t say,
=TOTAL(B2:B5) because Excel doesn’t know the name TOTAL as a function.
The functions, SUM, AVERAGE, MIN and MAX are declared the same way. For example,
MIN(B2:B5) or AVERAGE(B4:D10).

Exercise 1
Create the sheet below (Figure 4) and enter formulas in the shaded sections and apply all the
formats shown.

Figure 4
4.0 Creating Charts
To create a Chart,
Select the required ranges for the chart.

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 1. Click the Insert tab
2. Under Charts on the Ribbon, select the required type of Chart
3. The chart will be displayed.

Exercise 2
Create a 2-D column chart showing Items and Quantities.
Note: If done correctly, you will have a chart similar to Figure 5 below.

Figure 5
What Next?
You can further explore Excel using the Help feature of the program or using YouTube.

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