Week 1: Excel Basics & Formulas (Days 1-7)

Day 1-2: Introduction to Excel, Basic Navigation, and Shortcuts

Objective: Understand Excel’s user interface, basic navigation, and shortcuts for efficient work.

1. Excel Layout:

- Ribbon: The main toolbar at the top, containing tabs like Home, Insert, Page Layout, etc. Each tab has
relevant tools.

Talk about using alt to move between tabs

- Formula Bar: Where you see and edit formulas.

- Worksheet Tabs: Each tab represents a worksheet. By default, there are 3 sheets (Sheet1, Sheet2,
Sheet3). Use ctrl + page down and page up to move between sheets

- Cells: Intersection of a row and column. Example: A1 refers to the cell at the first column (A) and first
row (1).

-notebook

2. Navigating Excel:

- Move around using the arrow keys.

- `Ctrl + Arrow Keys`: Jump to the end of data in any direction.

- `Ctrl + Home`: Jump to the beginning of the worksheet (cell A1).

- `Ctrl + Page Up/Page Down`: Move between worksheets.

3. Important Shortcuts:

- `Ctrl + C` (Copy), `Ctrl + V` (Paste), `Ctrl + Z` (Undo), `Ctrl + Y` (Redo).

- ctrl + space to highlight the whole column and press shift + the right or left key to move the highlighted
section

- ctrl + Plus to add column and ctrl + Minus to remove

- ctrl + right takes it to the last column

- ctrl + down takes it to the last row and ctrl + home goes back to A1

- `I have sent file containg the shortcuts for excel

Data Entry, Formatting Cells, Data Types

1. Data Entry:

- Select a cell and type text or numbers directly.

- Excel recognizes data types: text (left-aligned), numbers (right-aligned), and dates.

2. Formatting Cells:

- Text Formatting: Select a cell or range, and use options like Bold (`Ctrl + B`), Italic (`Ctrl + I`), Underline
(`Ctrl + U`) from the Home tab.

Talk about text wrapping

Double click on edge of colum or rows to auto fit

Hover above afeature to get m0ore information about it

Just take your time with it

- Number Formatting:

- Currency: `Ctrl + Shift + $` to format numbers as currency.

- Percentage: `Ctrl + Shift + %` to display values as percentages.

- Date: Right-click on a cell, go to Format Cells > Date, and choose the desired format (e.g.,
dd/mm/yyyy).

Secong page of note

Range is a group of highlighted cells

Use tab to move between the cells

Day 5-6: Basic Formulas: SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MIN, MAX

Objective: Master basic formulas to perform arithmetic and summary calculations.

1. SUM Function:

- Syntax: `=SUM(A1:A10)`

- Adds all numbers in the specified range.

- Example: If cells A1 to A10 contain values, use `=SUM(A1:A10)` to get their total.
2. AVERAGE Function:

- Syntax: `=AVERAGE(A1:A10)`

- Calculates the mean of the numbers in the range.

- Example: `=AVERAGE(B1:B10)` gives the average of values in B1 to B10.

3. COUNT Function:

- Syntax: `=COUNT(A1:A10)`

- Counts the number of numeric entries in the range (ignores text).

- Example: `=COUNT(C1:C10)` counts how many numbers are in the C1 to C10 range.

4. MIN & MAX Functions:

- Syntax: `=MIN(A1:A10)` or `=MAX(A1:A10)`

- Returns the smallest or largest number in the range.

- Example: `=MIN(D1:D10)` gives the smallest value in D1 to D10.

Practice:

- Create a small dataset (e.g., sales data) and use `SUM`, `AVERAGE`, `COUNT`, `MIN`, and `MAX`
functions to summarize the data.

Day 7: Conditional Formulas: IF, AND, OR

1. IF Function: Making Decisions Based on Conditions

The `IF` function allows you to test a condition and return one value if the condition is TRUE and another
value if the condition is FALSE. This is crucial when analyzing data because it helps you classify,
categorize, or flag data points based on specific criteria.

Syntax:

=IF(logical_test, value_if_true, value_if_false)```

- `logical_test`: This is the condition you're testing (e.g., whether a value is greater than, less than, or
equal to a specific number).

- `value_if_true`: The result if the logical test is TRUE.

- `value_if_false`: The result if the logical test is FALSE.

Example: Pass/Fail Classification

```excel=IF(A2 > 50, "Pass", "Fail")```

- If the score in A2 is greater than 50, the formula returns "Pass"; otherwise, it returns "Fail."

Data Analysis Use Case:

In real-world scenarios, the `IF` function can be used to:

- Segment customers: Classify them as high-value or low-value based on purchase amounts.

- Flag outliers: Label entries that fall outside a normal range.

- Assign grades: Based on scores, classify students as Excellent, Good, or Needs Improvement.

Practice Task:

You have a sales dataset with sales figures in column B. Use `IF` to flag sales as “High” for values above
1000 and “Low” for values 1000 or less.

```excel =IF(B2 > 1000, "High", "Low") ```

2. AND Function: Testing Multiple Conditions Simultaneously

The `AND` function tests multiple conditions and returns TRUE only if all conditions are true. If any
condition is false, it returns FALSE. When combined with `IF`, it becomes very powerful in complex data
analysis scenarios.

Syntax:

```excel =AND(condition1, condition2, ...) ```

- `condition1`, `condition2`, etc.: These are the logical tests that must all be TRUE for the AND function
to return TRUE.

Example: Analyzing Multiple Criteria

You want to identify students who passed both their math (Column B) and English (Column C) exams.
You could use the following formula:

```excel =IF(AND(B2 > 50, C2 > 50), "Passed Both", "Did Not Pass Both") ```

- This checks if the score in B2 is greater than 50 AND the score in C2 is greater than 50. If both are true,
it returns "Passed Both"; otherwise, it returns "Did Not Pass Both."

Data Analysis Use Case:

- Filtering data: You can identify customers who meet multiple criteria, such as making large purchases
AND living in a specific region.

- Project tracking: Label tasks as "On Track" only if they meet all deadlines and budget criteria.
Practice Task:

You are analyzing employee performance. Employees are rated based on both punctuality (Column D)
and work quality (Column E). If an employee has a punctuality score above 8 AND a work quality score
above 7, mark them as “Top Performer.”

```excel =IF(AND(D2 > 8, E2 > 7), "Top Performer", "Needs Improvement") ```

3. OR Function: Testing Alternative Conditions

The `OR` function tests multiple conditions but returns TRUE if any of the conditions are true. It is useful
when you want to flag data based on several possible criteria.

Syntax:

```excel =OR(condition1, condition2, ...) ```

- `condition1`, `condition2`, etc.: These are the logical tests, and the function returns TRUE if at least one
condition is true.

Example: Flexible Criteria

Let’s say you want to flag students who passed either Math (Column B) OR English (Column C), you could
write:

```excel =IF(OR(B2 > 50, C2 > 50), "Passed", "Failed Both") ```

- If the score in B2 is greater than 50 OR the score in C2 is greater than 50, the student is labeled as
"Passed." If neither condition is true, the formula returns "Failed Both."

Data Analysis Use Case:

- Customer segmentation: Identify customers who made purchases either online or in-store.

- Flagging issues: You can flag products for review if they either have low stock OR low sales.

Practice Task:

You’re analyzing data on employees and want to flag those who have worked for the company for more
than 5 years (Column F) OR have made more than $100,000 in sales (Column G). Mark these employees
as “Experienced.”

```excel =IF(OR(F2 > 5, G2 > 100000), "Experienced", "New Employee") ```

Combining IF, AND, and OR for More Complex Conditions

By combining `IF` with `AND` and `OR`, you can create more complex conditions for your data analysis.
This is particularly useful when multiple layers of logic are required.

Example: Analyzing Customer Data

You want to classify subject based on multiple criteria:

- Customers are labeled as “Potential” if they live in New York OR spent more than $5000 but don’t meet
both conditions.

- Otherwise, customers are labeled as “Regular.”

```excel =IF(AND(B2 > 5000, C2 = "New York"), "VIP", IF(OR(B2 > 5000, C2 = "New York"), "Potential",
"Regular")) ```

- In this case, `B2` represents the amount spent and `C2` represents the customer’s location.

Advanced Example: Nesting IF Statements

In more complex scenarios, you may want to nest multiple `IF` statements to evaluate different
conditions. For instance, in grading students, you can assign letter grades (A, B, C, D, F) based on their
score using nested `IF` statements:

```excel

=IF(A2 >= 90, "A", IF(A2 >= 80, "B", IF(A2 >= 70, "C", IF(A2 >= 60, "D", "F")))) ```

- This formula assigns a letter grade based on the score in A2.

Practice:

1. Get a dataset (e.g., sales data, exam results, customer data).

2. Use the `IF`, `AND`, and `OR` formulas to segment, classify, and analyze your data.

3. Try nesting `IF` statements for more advanced categorization.

Tips for Week 1 Practice:

1. Repetition: After completing each day’s activities, spend extra time practicing the concepts with your
own dataset or create sample data.

2. Shortcuts: Aim to use keyboard shortcuts as often as possible to speed up your work.

3. Questions: Jot down any questions or challenges you face, and I can help troubleshoot or clarify.