COMPUTER APPLICATIONS II (DCC206)

WEEK 2
EXCEL LECTURE 1

BY: MR F. NDLANGAMANDLA
E C O T: C I V I L E N G I N E E R I N G D E PA R T M E N T
 Chapter 1: Introduction to Excel
Excel is the worlds most used spreadsheet software (others are, Google Docs sheets, Open
Office, etc.), Excel is one of Microsoft Office suite (others are, word, PowerPoint)
Excel has caught the attention of most professionals (such as, engineers, scientists, etc.)
Within excel program you can:
a. Perform calculations (budget, solve equations, etc.)
b. Insert and organize data (student register)
c. Insert pictures/ diagrams
d. Plot the results (pie chart, bar chart, scatter plot)
e. Manipulate and sort data (alphabetically, ascending)
 Workbooks and worksheets
Work is done in an excel workbook
Workbooks have one or more worksheets
Each worksheet is made up of a grid of cells which are designated by which row or column
they fall into
The grid of cells is essentially a table of data (may contain, survey points)
Each cell can contain one of three types of data
a. Numerical
b. Text
c. Formula
Excel Graphical User Interface
Excel GUI
Active cell indicator- currently active cell has dark outline and fill handle
The fill handle allows you to drag a selection bigger or smaller and to fill the new cells in the
selection based on the data in the initially selected cells
Collapse ribbon button- temporarily hide the ribbon
Column letters- letters range from A-XFD (click heading to highlight entire column)
File button- to access file opening, saving and creation functions as well as print functions
Formula bar- information entered in a cell appears here
Horizontal scroll bar- scroll worksheet horizontally
Name box- displays the active cell address (A1) or selected cell range (A1:B5)
Excel GUI
New sheet button- adds new worksheet to workbook
Page view button- changes the way the worksheet is displayed (normal, page break etc.)
Quick access tool bar- holds commonly used commands (undo, save, etc.)
Ribbon- location of main excel commands (tab specific commands e.g. Home, insert, etc.)
User name- name of the person logged in
Row numbers- numbers range from 1 to 1 048 576 (one for each row in the worksheet)
Sheet tabs- displays the names of worksheets (worksheets can be rearranged)
Sheet tab scroll buttons- for scrolling the worksheet tab and display tabs that are not visible
Status bar- displays various messages and status of Num Lock, Caps Lock etc.
Excel GUI
Tab list- click these commands to display a different ribbon
Tittle bar- displays the name of the program and also the current workbook
Vertical scroll bars- scroll the worksheet vertically
Window close button- close the active workbook window
Window maximise/restore button- increase the workbook window size to fill entire screen or
restores it original size
Window minimize button- minimize workbook window and displays it as an icon on the
windows taskbar
Zoom control- zooms worksheet in and out
Mouse conventions
Mouse pointer- small graphic figure that moves on the screen when you move your mouse
Point- move the mouse so that the mouse pointer is on a specific item (e.g. Point to minimize
button)
Click- press the left mouse button once and release immediately
Right click- press the right mouse button once and release immediately (pops up a shortcut
menu for the currently selected tool)
Double click- press the left mouse button twice in rapid succession
Drag- press the left mouse button and keep it pressed while you move the mouse (used to
select a range of cells or change the size of an object)
Moving around a worksheet
Worksheets consist of rows numbered 1-1 048 576 and columns (A-XFD) (column labelling is
done from A-Z followed by AA,AB and so on, after column AZ comes BA,BB and so on
The intersection of a row and a column is a single cell
Each cell has a unique address made up of its column letter and row number (e.g. the address
of the upper left cell is A1)
At any given time there is one active cell (the cell that can be edited and accept keyboard
inputs)
You can enter one of three basic types of information in a cell:
Moving around a worksheet
There are two ways of navigating a worksheet, using a keyboard or a mouse or a combination of
both
Using a keyboard:
a) Use the standard navigation keys on keyboard to move around (down arrow moves active
cell down one row, right arrow moves it one column to the right etc.)
Using a mouse:
a) To change the active cell by using a mouse you click another cell to make it an active cell
b) Use scroll bar to locate cells that are not visible
c) To scroll one cell, click either of the arrows on the scroll bar (you can also drag the scroll box)
d) Press Ctrl while rolling the mouse wheel to zoom the worksheet
Using the ribbon
Microsoft made dramatic changes to its user interface in Office 2007, traditional menus and
tool bars were replaced with the ribbon (a collection of icons)
There are words called tabs above the icons ( home tab, insert tab, etc.)
The commands available in the ribbon depend on the selected tab:
a) Home tab- contains most commands required to edit a workbook (formatting, style , etc.)
b) Insert tab- for inserting components into a worksheet (table, chart, diagram, etc.)
c) Page layout tab- commands for overall worksheet appearance (page size, orientation, etc.)
d) Formulas- for inserting a formula, name a cell, etc.
e) Data tab- data related commands (e.g. sorting)
 Using the ribbon
f) Review tab- contains tools for checking grammar, adding comments, etc.
g) View tab- commands on how the worksheet is viewed (normal, page break, zoom, etc.)

Contextual tabs- these are additional tabs that appear when an object is selected, specific tools
for working with that object are made available in the ribbon (e.g. Table, picture)
When you hover your mouse pointer over a ribbon command, a pop-up box shows up (with
command name and brief description)
There are various commands on the ribbon:
a) Simple buttons- click the button and it does its thing (e.g. Centre align button- click it the text
aligns to the Centre)
 Using the ribbon
b) Toggle buttons- clickable button that conveys some type of information by displaying two
different colors (e.g. the bold button- click it once and it changes its background color, click it
again it changes to the original background color)
c) Simple drop down- if the ribbon has a small down arrow, the command is a drop down (e.g.
font size- click arrow to select the desired font size)
d) Split buttons- a combination of a simple button and a drop-down , a command is executed if
you click the button part and you choose from the drop-down if you select the arrow (e.g.
merge and Centre command)
e) Check boxes- turns something on or off (e.g. gridlines control in the view tab, gridlines show
when the box is checked and do not show when unchecked)
f) Spinners- only one spinner control in excel, scale to fit group in the page layout tab (click the
top part of the spinner to increase the value; the converse holds)
Using shortcut menus
Excel features shortcut menus when you right click on anything within excel workbook
Shortcut menus only show the most commonly used commands for whatever is selected (e.g.
when you right click on a cell- you get commands for copying, inserting, etc.)
Short cut menus make the selection of some commands fast and efficient
Working with dialogue boxes
Many commands display a dialog box (a way of getting more information from the user)
There are two types of dialog boxes:
a) Typical dialog box- it takes the focus away from the workbook, you cannot do anything in the
worksheet until you dismiss the dialog box (clicking ok performs a specified action and
clicking cancel closes the dialog box without taking any action)
b) Stay-on-top dialog box- works in a manner similar to a tool-bar, you can continue working on
the worksheet while it is displayed (e.g. find and replace dialogue box)
Using the task pane
The task pane is a user interface element
It appears automatically in response to several commands (it appears when you format a
picture you have inserted- the format picture task pane shows on the right)
Exercise 1: Creating first excel workbook
Follow the example on monthly sales projection table and chart (page 23 of the prescribed
text; Microsoft excel 2016 bible- the comprehensive tutorial resource by John Walkenbach)
Note: the example will prepare the student for the tutorial/ tutorial test and assignment
chapter 2: Entering and editing worksheet data
An excel workbook can hold any number of worksheets
Each worksheet is made up of more than 17 billion cells
A cell can hold any of three basic types of data:
a) A numerical value
b) Text
c) A formula
A worksheet can also hold charts, diagrams, buttons etc., these reside on a worksheet’s draw
layer
A worksheet draw layer is an invisible layer on top of each worksheet
Data types
Numerical values- represent a quantity (sales amounts, number of students, etc. these can be
displayed in different formats)
a) Numeric limitation- excels numbers are limited to 15 digits precision (anything beyond 15
digits is registered as zeros, you may have to enter numbers > 15 digits as text to avoid this
limitation)
b) You can add decimal points, currency symbols, plus/minus sign, commas
Text information- used to identify data series, attach notes and general communication
a) A cell can contain up to 32000 characters
Data types
Formulas- mathematical or statistical equations that compute results based on entered
numbers (even text) or cell references in formula
a) equal sign required to identify input as formula
b) Elementary arithmetic operations in a formula are, add, subtract, multiply, divide,
exponential
c) Excel has functions to calculate things like average, medians, sums, etc.
d) A formula can consist of a number of elements such as values, operators, function calls, cell
references
Entering text and values into your worksheet
Enter text, numbers or formula by putting the cursor on the cell of interest, then type in the
contents and press enter or tab or arrow keys (the information is displayed in the cell and
appears in the formula bar when the cell is selected)
If you need to locate the cursor or the active cell, look in the cell reference (upper left corner)
Entering date values
Excel handles dates by using a serial number system, the earliest date excel understands is
January 1, 1900 with serial number of 1 (January 2, 1900 has a serial number of 2etc.)
The serial system makes it easy to calculate the number of days between two dates
When entering a date in excel, use the standard date format (excel will take care of the serial
number for that particular date)
Entering time values
When working with time, you extend the excel date serial number system by adding decimals
(fractional days/ fractional serial number)
The date serial number for January 1, 1900 is 1, therefore noon on the same day is represented
internally as 1.5
Again, when entering a date with time in excel, use the standard date and time format (excel
will take care of the fractional serial number for that particular date and time)
Deleting cell contents
Click cell and press delete to clear the contents of a cell (highlight cells you want to clear and
press delete)
Deleting the cell contents does not remove any cell formatting ( e.g. Bold, italic, etc.)
For more control over what gets deleted, click home tab then select clear drop-down menu
under editing (five choices will be available, clear all, clear formats, clear contents, etc.)
Replacing cell contents
Click cell and type your new entry, this replaces previous content
You can also drag content or paste content from the clipboard
Applying number formatting
Number formatting is the process of changing the appearance of values contained in cells
Formatting is done to ensure readability, consistency (e.g. number of decimal places shown)
There are a number of formatting methods:
a) Automatic number formatting- excel performs the formatting for you ( excel applies
percentage format where % sign is used)
b) Formatting using the ribbon- select home then select format under number group
c) Using shortcut keys- applying formatting using shortcut key
d) Format cells dialogue box- gives more control over how the values appear (change dollar sign
to Emalangeni)
Applying number formatting