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Spreadsheet Exercise 1

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16 views4 pages

Spreadsheet Exercise 1

Uploaded by

maureenlucernas07
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Spreadsheet Exercise #1

This exercise is designed to familiarize you with how to create functions and formulas and the
difference between them.

So what is the difference between a function and a formula?

Formulas
Well, a formula is a simple calculation that involves either *, /, +, -, or (). Of course your formula
will ALWAYS start with an = sign. Here are some examples of a few formulas:

 =(5+6)*9
 =(b1+b2)-b12
 =9+10+b6
 =((b10)*10)/(b2+4)

You'll see that beside the mathematical signs, you may have brackets, numbers, or cell
addresses.

Functions
A function on the other hand contains "functionality" in that there are parts of the "function" that
are programmed into it. For example, let's take the average function. Say we want to take the
average of cells B1 to B5.

We could make a formula that looks like one of these examples:

Both of these formulas do the same thing. They both add the cells b1 to b5 and then divide the
result by 5.

What if you wanted to take the average of 25 cells, 50 cells, 5000 cells. I don't know about you,
but I would definitely be a little frustrated. No need to worry though, because the MS Works
Spreadsheet program has a function that can solve your problems! Let's say we want to take
the average of the cells b1 to b1000. We could enter:

Or:
Or, we could use the average function and enter:
By using this function, MS Excel will generate the average for you. You don't even have to count
up how many cells you have.

This format can be used for a series of cells. You list the first cell, a colon, then the last cell, and
the function will take the average of those cells and all the cells in between them.

:
Notice that if you take the average of a series, you use a to separate the first and last
cell addresses.
You may also use another format if you just want to take the average of 2 cells:

This format will take the average of 2 cells.

Notice that if you just want to take the average of 2 cells, you use a , to
separate the 2 cells addresses.

To see a list of all the functions available in MS Excel, go under


the Formulas tab and select Insert Function. This will open a new window
displaying all available functions.
Let's say that you were using the SUM function. The SUM function can add 2
values and up. Be careful and read the questions carefully!! If the question
asks you to add A3 to A6 you would type:
=SUM(A3:A6)

If the question asked you to add A3 and A6, you have 2 options. You could
type:
=SUM(A3,A6) or more simply =A3+A6

They both will result in the same answer.

Be careful!

=SUM(A3:A6) and =SUM(A3,A6)

DO NOT MEAN THE SAME THING. The colon is used for a series of cells
and the comma is used for 2 cells.

Exercise:
1. Ok, fill in the formulas to add up the expenses for each month (dark
blue area). Fill in the sum for each expense as well (yellow area). You
are free to use either formulas or functions to create these totals.
(Hint: If you are going to use a function, your best choice here would be
the SUM function.)
2. Now, fill (right/down) the formulas to add up the income for each month
as well as the total from each income source (green and light
blue areas). If you used a straight formula for the last step, try using a
function this time. And, if you used a function last time, then try using a
straight formula this time.
3. Now finish off the calculations and subtract the expenses from the
income for each month, that is, the purple cell minus the red cell. This
calculation should be located in cell B26 (grey cell).

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