MICROSOFT EXCEL

What is MS Excel?

MS Excel is a spreadsheet program where one can record data in the

form of tables. It is easy to analyse data in an Excel spreadsheet. The
image given below represents how an Excel spreadsheet looks like:

How to open MS Excel?

To open MS Excel on your computer, follow the steps given below:

●​ Click on Start
●​ Then All Programs
●​ Next step is to click on MS Office
●​ Then finally, choose the MS-Excel option
Alternatively, you can also click on the Start button and type MS Excel
in the search option available.

What is a cell?

A spreadsheet is in the form of a table comprising rows and columns.

The rectangular box at the intersection point between rows and columns
forms a cell. Given below is an image of a cell:
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What is Cell Address?

The cell address is the name by which is cell can be addressed. For
example, if row 7 is interested in column G, then the cell address is G7.

Features of MS Excel
Various editing and formatting can be done on an Excel spreadsheet.
Discussed below are the various features of MS Excel.

The image below shows the composition of features in MS Excel:

●​ Home

●​ Comprises options like font size, font styles, font colour, background
colour, alignment, formatting options and styles, insertion and
deletion of cells and editing options
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●​ Insert
●​ Comprises options like table format and style, inserting images and
figures, adding graphs, charts and sparklines, header and footer
option, equation and symbols
●​ Page Layout
●​ Themes, orientation and page setup options are available under the
page layout option
●​ Formulas
●​ Since tables with a large amount of data can be created in MS excel,
under this feature, you can add formulas to your table and get quicker
solutions
●​ Data
●​ Adding external data (from the web), filtering options and data tools
are available under this category
●​ Review
●​ Proofreading can be done for an excel sheet (like spell check) in the
review category and a reader can add comments in this part
●​ View
●​ Different views in which we want the spreadsheet to be displayed can
be edited here. Options to zoom in and out and pane arrangement are
available under this category

Benefits of Using MS Excel

MS Excel is widely used for various purposes because the data is easy to
save, and information can be added and removed without any discomfort
and less hard work.

Given below are a few important benefits of using MS Excel:

●​ Easy To Store Data: Since there is no limit to the amount of information

that can be saved in a spreadsheet, MS Excel is widely used to save data or
to analyse data. Filtering information in Excel is easy and convenient.
●​ Easy To Recover Data: If the information is written on a piece of paper,
finding it may take longer, however, this is not the case with excel
spreadsheets. Finding and recovering data is easy.
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●​ Application of Mathematical Formulas: Doing calculations has become

easier and less time-taking with the formulas option in MS excel
●​ More Secure: These spreadsheets can be password secured in a laptop or
personal computer and the probability of losing them is way lesser in
comparison to data written in registers or piece of paper.
●​ Data at One Place: Earlier, data was to be kept in different files and
registers when the paperwork was done. Now, this has become convenient as
more than one worksheet can be added in a single MS Excel file.
●​ Neater and Clearer Visibility of Information: When the data is saved in
the form of a table, analysing it becomes easier. Thus, information is a
spreadsheet that is more readable and understandable.
There are certain things which one must know with respect to MS Excel,
its applications and usage:

●​ An MS Excel file is saved with an extension of .xls

●​ Companies with large staff and workers use MS Excel as saving employee
information becomes easier
●​ Excel spreadsheets are also used in hospitals where the information of
patients can be saved more easily and can be removed conveniently once
their medical history is cleared
●​ The sheet on which you work is called a Worksheet
●​ Multiple worksheets can be added in a single Excel file
●​ This is a data processing application
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Microsoft Excel is the go-to tool for almost every data professional. It's a widely
used software application in industries today, built to generate reports and business
insights. And it also supports several in-built applications that make it easier to
use.
One such feature that allows Excel to stand out is are it's formulas. In this lesson
we will look into the top Excel formulas that one must know while working on this
tool.

What is Excel Formula?

In Microsoft Excel, a formula is an expression that operates on values in

a range of cells. These formulas return a result, even when it is an error.
Excel formulas enable you to perform calculations such as addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division. In addition to these, you can
find out averages and calculate percentages in excel for a range of cells,
manipulate date and time values, and do a lot more.

An Overview of Formulas in Excel

Choose a cell.
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●​ To enter an equal sign, click the cell and type =.

●​ Enter the address of a cell in the selected cell or select a cell from the list.
●​ You need to enter an operator.
●​ Enter the address of the next cell in the selected cell.
●​ Press Enter.

There is another term that is very familiar to Excel formulas, and that is
"function". The two words, "formulas" and "functions" are sometimes
interchangeable. They are closely related, but yet different. A formula
begins with an equal sign. Meanwhile, functions are used to perform
complex calculations that cannot be done manually. Functions in excel
have names that reflect their intended use.

Excel formulas and functions help you perform your tasks efficiently,
and it's time-saving. Let's proceed and learn the different types of
functions available in Excel and use relevant formulas as and when
required.

Create a formula that refers to values in other cells

Type the equal sign =.

Note: Formulas in Excel always begin with the equal sign.

1.​ Select a cell or type its address in the selected cell.

2.​ Enter an operator. For example, – for subtraction.
3.​ Select the next cell, or type its address in the selected cell.
4.​ Press Enter. The result of the calculation appears in the cell with
the formula.

See a formula
When a formula is entered into a cell, it also appears in the Formula
bar.
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▪​ To see a formula in the formula bar, select a cell.

Top Excel Formulas and Functions

There are plenty of Excel formulas and functions depending on what

kind of operation you want to perform on the dataset. We will look into
the formulas and functions on mathematical operations, character-text
functions, data and time, sumif-countif, and few lookup functions.

1. SUM

The SUM() function, as the name suggests, gives the total of the selected
range of cell values. It performs the mathematical operation which is
addition. Here’s an example of it below:

=SUM(C2:C4)

As you can see above, to find the total amount of sales for every unit, we
had to simply type in the function “=SUM(C2:C4)”.

2. AVERAGE

The AVERAGE() function focuses on calculating the average of the

selected range of cell values. As seen from the below example, to find
the avg of the total sales, you have to simply type in:

=AVERAGE(C2, C3, C4)

It automatically calculates the average, and you can store the result in
your desired location.

3. COUNT
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The function COUNT() counts the total number of cells in a range that
contains a number. It does not include the cell, which is blank, and the
ones that hold data in any other format apart from numeric.

4. SUBTOTAL

Moving ahead, let’s now understand how the subtotal function works.
The SUBTOTAL() function returns the subtotal in a database.
Depending on what you want, you can select average, count, sum, min,
max, min, and others. Let’s have a look at two such examples.

Fig: Subtotal function in Excel

In the example above, we have performed the subtotal calculation on

cells ranging from A2 to A4. As you can see, the function used is

=SUBTOTAL(1, A2: A4)

In the subtotal list “1” refers to average. Hence, the above function will
give the average of A2: A4 and the answer to it is 11, which is stored in
C5. Similarly,

“=SUBTOTAL(4, A2: A4)”

This selects the cell with the maximum value from A2 to A4, which is
12. Incorporating “4” in the function provides the maximum result.

5.​ MAX( )

The function MAX() counts the cell with the maximum value from total
number of cells in a range .
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6.​ MIN( )

The function MAX() counts the cell with the maximum value from total
number of cells in a range .

7.​ MODULUS

The MOD() function works on returning the remainder when a particular

number is divided by a divisor. Let’s now have a look at the examples
below for better understanding.

●​ In the first example, we have divided 10 by 3. The remainder is calculated using

the function
=MOD(A2,3)

●​ The result is stored in B2. We can also directly type “=MOD(10,3)” as it will
give the same answer.

Fig: Similarly, here, we have divided 12 by 4. The remainder is 0 is,

which is stored in B3.

8.​ POWER

The function “Power()” returns the result of a number raised to a certain

power. Let’s have a look at the examples shown below:

As you can see above, to find the power of 10 stored in A2 raised to 3,

we have to type: =POWER(A2,3)

9.​ REPLACE

As the name suggests, the REPLACE() function works on replacing the

part of a text string with a different text string.
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The syntax is “=REPLACE(old_text, start_num, num_chars, new_text)”.

Here, start_num refers to the index position you want to start replacing
the characters with. Next, num_chars indicate the number of characters
you want to replace.

11.​UPPER, LOWER, PROPER

The UPPER() function converts any text string to uppercase. In contrast,

the LOWER() function converts any text string to lowercase. The
PROPER() function converts any text string to proper case, i.e., the first
letter in each word will be in uppercase, and all the other will be in
lowercase.

12.​NOW()

The NOW() function in Excel gives the current system date and time. He
result of the NOW() function will change based on your system date and time.

13.​TODAY()

The TODAY() function in Excel provides the current system date. The
function DAY() is used to return the day of the month. It will be a
number between 1 to 31. 1 is the first day of the month, 31 is the last
day of the month.

The MONTH() function returns the month, a number from 1 to 12,

where 1 is January and 12 is December.

The YEAR() function, as the name suggests, returns the year from a date
value.

14.​TIME()
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The TIME() function converts hours, minutes, seconds given as numbers

to an Excel serial number, formatted with a time format.

15.​HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND

The HOUR() function generates the hour from a time value as a number
from 0 to 23. Here, 0 means 12 AM and 23 is 11 PM.

The function MINUTE(), returns the minute from a time value as a

number from 0 to 59.

The SECOND() function returns the second from a time value as a

number from 0 to 59.

16.​DATEDIF

The DATEDIF() function provides the difference between two dates in

terms of years, months, or days.

Below is an example of a DATEDIF function where we calculate the

current age of a person based on two given dates, the date of birth and
today’s date.

Enter a formula that contains a built-in function

1.​ Select an empty cell.
2.​ Type an equal sign = and then type a function. For example, =SUM
for getting the total sales.
3.​ Type an opening parenthesis (.
4.​ Select the range of cells, and then type a closing parenthesis).
5.​ Press Enter to get the result.
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Computer Shortcut Keys- MS Excel

MS Excel shortcut keys include Ctrl+C (copy), Ctrl+V (paste), F2 (edit cell), F4 (repeat
last action), and Ctrl+Shift+Arrow Keys (select multiple cells). These Computer Shortcut
Keys can significantly increase productivity and save time.

Shortcuts Work of shortcuts

F2 Edit the selected cell
F5 Go to a specific cell
F7 Spell check selected text and/or document
F11 Create chart
Ctrl + Shift +; Enter the current time
Ctrl +; Enter the current date
Alt + Shift + F1 Insert new worksheet
Shift + F3 Open the Excel formula window
Shift + F5 Bring up the search box
Ctrl + B Bold highlighted selection
Ctrl + I Italicize highlighted selection
Ctrl + D Fill
Ctrl + K Insert link
Ctrl + F Open find and replace options
Ctrl + G Open go-to options
Ctrl + H Open find and replace options
Ctrl + U Underline highlighted selection
Ctrl + Y Underline selected text
Ctrl + 5 Strikethrough highlighted selection
Ctrl + O Open options
Ctrl + N Open new document
Ctrl + P Open print dialog box
Ctrl + Z Undo the last action
Ctrl + F9 Minimize current window
Ctrl + F10 Maximize currently selected window
Ctrl + F6 Switch between open workbooks/windows
Ctrl + Page up & Page Down Move between Excel worksheets in the same document
Ctrl + Tab Move between two or more open Excel files
Alt + = Create the formula to sum all of the above cells
Ctrl + Insert the value of the above cell into the current cell
Ctrl + Shift + ! Format number in comma format
Ctrl + Shift + $ Format number in currency format
Ctrl + Shift + # Format number in date format
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Ctrl + Shift + % Format number in percentage format

Ctrl + Shift + ^ Format number in scientific format
Ctrl + Shift + @ Format number in time format
Ctrl + (Right arrow) Move to next section of text
Ctrl + Space Select entire column
Shift + Space Select entire row
Ctrl + W Close document