Excel Tutorial

Excel Tutorial Below is a very brief tutorial on the basic capabilities of Excel. Refer to the Excel help files for more information. Working with Data Entering and Formatting Data Before entering data into a spreadsheet a little thought should be given as to the arrangement of the data. A typical use of Excel is to keep track of student grades. A convenient arrangement of data is to list the students names in columns and the various assignments in rows. The formatting of data (text, numbers, dates, currency etc..) can be set to your personal preferences. Select the data you wish to format and under the Format menu select Cells. The dialog box that comes up lists many different available formats. For instance you can choose to show only 1 decimal place for all calculations. Customizing the formatting can make it easier to look at the data. Individual cells are named according to which row and column they are in. By default excel labels columns with letters and rows with numbers. The data in the first column and first row is referred to as A1. Entering Formulas, Working with Data The power of Excel comes from it s ab ility to perform complex calculations on an active spreadsheet. This means that you can enter formulas for the manipulation of experimental data that update when the data changes. In order for excel to differentiate between a formula and text, the equal sign, = , is used to let the software know that what follows is ...