In this tutorial, information is presented in blue

boxes.

An Excel file usually consists of multiple pages

(called Worksheets) that can be accessed by
clicking on tabs that appear at the bottom of the
window.

Instructions are in purple boxes.

Click on the worksheet tabs from left to right to

follow the tutorials on each page.

Exercises are presented in red boxes.

Yellow highlights mark locations referred to in boxes.

You can also use Excel's built-in help function by

pressing F1. Depending on the Excel version and
configuration, this may require an internet
connection.

This tutorial was developed in Excel 2010. Not

all features and functions may work the same
way in earlier or later versions of Excel.

Version 1.02 10/6/2015 Minor typo fixed

This is an Excel Worksheet.
It's basically a big table. Each This is column E. The space above the column headings (A, B, C...)
cell can contain data like text the right of "fx", is the formula bar. The content
and numbers. the selected cell is displayed here.

Each cell has an address

This is row 8. Data based on the row and
column. This cell is E8.

At the bottom, you see tabs

for different pages (called You can click on a
Worksheets). cell to select it, or
Click on different tabs to use arrow keys to
look at other pages. move around the
sheet.
 column headings (A, B, C...), to
he formula bar. The content of
splayed here.
 1. When you enter data in Excel, think about how you'd like
it organized. Do you want to display it horizontally like this?

Plant No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Height (cm 7.5 10.1 8.3 9.8 5.7 10.3 9.2 8.7

2. Or vertically like this?

Plant NumbHeight (cm) Plant NumbHeight (cm

1 7.5 1 7.5
2 10.1 3. You can work either 2 10.1
3 8.3 way, but it's usually easier 3 8.3
to manage the data if you
4 9.8 enter them vertically. 4 9.8
5 5.7 5 5.7
6 10.3 6 10.3
7 9.2 7 9.2
8 8.7 8 8.7
Color
yellow
green
yellow 4. If your data has more
than one attribute, you
green can add another column.
yellow
green
green
yellow
Plant Number Height (cm)
1 7.5 Use any formatting tools
Font style/size can be the cell show the first 3 s
2 10.1 changed, and cells can be digits of Pi , 3.14.
3 8.3 shaded.
4 9.8
5 5.7
6 10.3 PI Format
7 9.2 3.14159265 General
8 8.7 314.16% Percentage
$3.14 Currency
3 No decimal
3.14E+00 Scientific

Table Column width and Row

height can be changed by
dragging the border of the
columns and rows in the
header areas at the top or These values are all the same (Pi)
the left that have A, B, C, D,... but shown in different formats.
and 1, 2, 3, 4... Change format either by right-
clicking the cell and selecting
"Format Cells" or from the Home
-> Number section of the ribbon
above.
Use any formatting tools to make
the cell show the first 3 significant
digits of Pi , 3.14.

3.14159
Plant Number Height (cm)
1 7.5
A cell entry that starts with an equal sign (=) is a
2 10.1 Formula.
3 8.3 Formulae can have numbers or cell addresses. For
4 9.8 example (see K4 to K6), you can have
=A2/5 (divide the content of A2 by 5)
5 5.7 =A2+A3 (add the contents of A2 and A3)
6 10.3 =8/3 (8 divided by 3)
7 9.2 So Excel can be used as a calculator.
8 8.7 Mathematical operators supported: Excel supports t
+ addition; - subtraction; * multiplication; operators :
Mean using arithmetic formulae / division; ^ exponentiation + addition
- subtraction
Sum 69.6 * multiplication
Count 8 / division
Mean 8.7 ^ exponentiatio

These resolve in
exponentiation
Click on B12 and B14 to see what formulae addition and su
they contain in the formula bar above. Example:
When the formula is displayed, click inside =1+3*2 is 7, not
Arithmetic mean (in cell the formula bar to see which cells are
B14) is calculated by relevant in the formula. You can use par
adding up all the values (in Press "Esc" key to return to the Example:
B12) and dividing by the Worksheet. =(1+3)*2 is 8.
count (in B13).

Click on B29 and type "=" to calculate the product of all

the plant heights in B2 to B9. (Multiply all the values
together.) In the formula, use cell references (B2, B3, etc.)
and not the actual values (7.5, 10.1, etc.)

You can either type all of the formula, or click on each cell
and type the multiplication symbol after each click.
Hint: The formula in B12 is very similar to the one you
want.
 0.2
3
2.666667

Excel supports the following mathematical

operators :
+ addition =2 + 3 is 5
- subtraction =2 - 3 is -1
* multiplication =2 * 3 is 6
/ division =2 / 3 is 0.666667
^ exponentiation =2 ^ 3 is 8

These resolve in a standard mathematical order:

exponentiation -> multiplication and division ->
addition and subtraction.
Example:
=1+3*2 is 7, not 8.

You can use parentheses ( ) to change the order.

Example:
=(1+3)*2 is 8.
Plant Number Height (cm)
Excel has a powerful set of Functions that can be used in a cell.
1 7.5 Each function has a name and an argument list in parentheses.
2 10.1 An argument is basically the input to the function.
3 8.3
4 9.8
5 5.7
6 10.3 You can insert a function by selecting
a cell then clicking on the fx to the
7 9.2 left of the formula bar. Click on D8
8 8.7 and click on fx to see a list of
functions available.
Mean using arithmetic formulae
Sum 69.6
Count 8 B17 uses the SUM function that adds all entries
Mean 8.7 in the argument list separated by commas. The
list can contain actual numbers or references to
a cell. Click to see the formula.
Mean using functions
Sum 69.6
Count 8
Mean 8.7 B18 uses the COUNT function that counts the
number of entries in a list. Click to see the
formula.
Mean using the average function
Mean 8.7
B22 uses the AVERAGE function that calculates
the mean of the entries in a list. Click to see the
formula.

79.6 B28 is an example in which the function has

both a cell reference and a number. The formula
adds 10 to the content of cell B17. Click to see
the formula.
a cell.
heses. 5

Enter a formula in L7 with a

function that calculates the
sum of values in J6, K2, and
L4.
Plant Number Height (cm)
1 7.5
When you want to calculate the average of many
2 10.1 cells, it's time-consuming to list them all as B2, B3,
3 8.3 B4, B5...etc.
4 9.8 In Excel, you can instead use a Range of cells.
A range is a sequence of cells selected together;
5 5.7 for example, B2:B9. Click on C17, then click on the
6 10.3 formula bar. The range is shown as a blue
7 9.2 rectangle around the selected cells.
Press the Esc key to return to the worksheet.
8 8.7

Mean using arithmetic formulae

Sum 69.6
Count 8
Mean 8.7
C17 uses the SUM function to add all numbers in
a range.
Mean using functions
Sum 69.6 69.6
Count 8 8
C18 uses the COUNT function to count the
Mean 8.7 8.7 number of entries in a range. Click to see the
formula.
Mean using the average function
Mean 8.7 8.7
C22 uses the AVERAGE function to calculate the
mean of the numbers in a range. Click to see the
formula.
 Numbers
1
2 Exercise:
In cell K13, use a function to add
3 up the numbers highlighted in
4 column K.
5
1. Click on K13
6 2. Type "=sum("
7 3. Click and drag K2 to K11.
(Click on K2, then without letting
8 go, drag to K11.)
9 4. Type ")", then Enter.
10
K13 should show 55. If not, click
on K13, then look at the formula
Sum bar and make sure it shows
"=SUM(K2:K11)"
If not, edit the formula directly
in the formula bar to correct the
error.

he
e the

late the
o see the
Mouse No. Time (sec.) Sorted Time
1 31 31
2 33 33
3 163 163
4 33 33
5 28 28
6 29 29
7 33 33 Median
8 27 27
9 27 27
10 34 34
11 35 35
12 28 28
13 32 32

Mean 41
Median 32

In Excel, it's easy to sort numbers. Select E2:E14 by click-dragging.

Here we are using the
AVERAGE and MEDIAN
functions. PC Mac

PC Excel 2010: Select Sort & Filter in the Home tab in the ribbon above,
then select "Sort Smallest to Largest" or "Sort Largest to Smallest" and see
the result.

Mac Excel 2011: Select the Sort icon (A->Z) on the toolbar, then select
"Ascending" or "Descending" and see the result.

The Median value is the middle of the range.

dragging.

e ribbon above,
Smallest" and see

ar, then select

The medium ground finch is a species of Columns J and K contain data from 50
Darwin's finches from the Galapagos medium ground finches.
Islands. Column J shows the ID # of a bird, and
column K shows its beak depth.

Using a function, calculate the mean

In the exercise section of these tutorials, beak depth of these birds in cell H20.
you will manipulate a subset of
experimental data provided by scientists
Peter and Rosemary Grant, who have
studied these birds for many years.

Refer to:
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/
evolution-action-data-analysis
for more background. Mean Beak Depth (mm) =
 Bird ID Beak Depth (mm)
9 8.30
ta from 50 12 7.50
276 8.00
a bird, and
pth. 278 10.60
283 11.20
288 9.10
293 9.50
294 10.50
298 8.40
307 8.60
311 9.20
he mean 315 8.80
n cell H20.
321 8.50
342 8.00
343 9.70
345 8.40
346 7.90
347 9.30
352 7.70
356 8.50
413 8.20
420 9.70
422 10.30
428 10.20
452 8.90
456 9.60
457 7.85
458 9.60
461 9.80
462 8.80
468 9.00
503 9.10
506 9.20
507 8.80
509 9.20
511 8.80
512 9.40
519 8.30
522 8.40
561 10.20
564 9.30
605 10.20
609 10.50
610 9.00
611 9.80
619 9.30
621 7.60
674 10.50
676 9.70
687 8.60