What is Microsoft Excel? Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft. What is a spreadsheet? A spreadsheet is a computer program that allows the entry, calculation, and storage of data in columns and rows. What is a worksheet? It is a spreadsheet that contains formulas, functions, values, text, and visual aids. What is a workbook? It is a file containing related worksheets. In order to find Microsoft Excel, on your desktop or computer go to your search bar engine and type excel. Click on open and then click on workbook. The top part of the excel is called the excel ribbon it contains tabs such as file, home,insert, page layout, formulas, data, review, view and help and it also has a search engine bar. This is called the workspace area; it contains columns from A-Z and then AA AB AC and so on in total there are 16,384 columns and for rows its number 1, 2, 3 and so on and has a total of 1,048,576 rows. Every cell coordinates are given by the letter and number corresponding to the column and row on where it lies. For example, the first cell in the worksheet is A1 this is because it lies at the intersection of column A and row number 1. This is call the name box, it shows the name of the active cell. For example, If I were to select a different cell, it will display the coordinates on the name box.This is called the formula bar which allows us to edit or enter information such as numbers, texts, formulas within a given cell. On the bottom you can see we have a tab called sheet 1, we rename it by right clicking on your mouse and selecting rename to whatever you like, I’m going to call it year 2020.
What is a cell? A cell is the intersection of a column and row. A cell address, identifies a cell by a column letter and a row number. What is an active cell? An active cell is the current cell, it displays a dark green border around the active cell and the cell address of the active cell appears in the Name Box.For this example, I’m going to type Monday through Wednesday, I will type in Monday, if you want to go to the next cell hit the enter key on your computer. When you press Enter, the next cell down in the same column becomes the active cell. Now I’m going to type Tuesday, and I’ll be pressing the enter key and it goes to the next cell down and now I’m going to type Wednesday. To go to the second column which is column B, row 1 as in cell B1, you click on A1 with your mouse then press the tab key on your computer. The tab key allows you to move to the next cell on the right. I’ll be writing numbers 1-3. So, I type 1 press the enter key, 2 press the enter key, 3 press the enter key. You can see the text is aligned to the left and numbers are aligned to the right. Now let’s say you accidentally typed 5 when you meant to type 4 you press the Escape key on your computer and it will erase what you have typed. If you want to delete content of a cell you can use the delete key or the clear command on the home tab located on the right side of your screen. The difference between delete and clear is delete leaves any previous formatting that you had, while clear removes content, formatting, comments, notes and etc.
What is a formula? A formula is a combination of cell references, operators, values, and functions used to perform a calculation. For Microsoft Excel to recognize a formula, it requires you to start the formula with an equal sign (=). This is because Microsoft Excel treats phone numbers, such as (718) 555-1234, as text, and not values. An example of a formula in Microsoft Excel would be
=A1+A2+A3
This particular formula will sum the range of values from cell A1 to cell A3. In this lesson, I will show you two ways to include numbers in a formula. The first way is to type it in the formula bar, with your mouse click on cell B4, then click on the formula bar with your mouse. Next with your keyboard type the equal sign 7 + 12 and press the enter key this will give you the sum of 7 + 12 which is 19. The second way is to include arguments in a formula, which is used to reference within the spreadsheet. In this example I have 7 on cell B2 and 12 on cell B3, with your mouse click on cell B4 then click on the formula bar and now on the formula bar, press the equal sign on your keyboard. Next with your mouse click on cell B2, you can see cell B2 has turn into a blue color, Now press the plus sign + on your keyboard and then click with your mouse on cell B3, now you can see cell B3 has turn into a red color, now click on cell B4 and press the enter key on your keyboard. You can see it shows you the sum of 7 + 12 which is 19. And it will also show you the formula you created which is =B2+B3.
What does Ctrl + C do?
Also known as Control C, it is a shortcut key that is used to copy a highlighted text.
What does Ctrl + V do?
Also known as Control V, it is a shortcut key used to paste a text.
What does Ctrl + X do?
Also known as Control X, it is a shortcut key used to cut a text.
In this lesson, you will learn shortcut keys to use for Microsoft Excel,
in this example we will learn how to copy, cut and paste. To copy the content of a cell, you must first select the cell you want to copy. Then press the Control key and then press the C key, you should have two fingers pressing on the control and C key. As you can see, the cells turn to a gray color and the cells are covered in green dashes because excel knows you have selected the cell you want to copy. Another way to copy, is by selecting the cell and the right click on your mouse and click on copy. Now we are ready to learn how to paste, to do this you need to first select the cell, and then press on the control key and then press the V key, you should have two fingers pressing control and V. Another way to paste is by selecting the cell and right click your mouse and click on Paste. Now you are ready to learn how to cut, you need to select a cell, then press on the Control key and then press the X key, you should have two fingers pressing control and X key. You can paste what you have cut wherever you like, however when you paste it, the original text you cut is moved to a different location.This is because you are taking the text and putting it somewhere else. Another way, to cut, is by first selecting the cell you want to cut and then right click on your mouse and click on cut. And there you have it! You have just learned how to copy, cut and paste on Microsoft Excel.
What is a function?
A function is a predefined formula that performs calculations using specific values in a particular order. The type of common functions you will find an Microsoft Excel is:
Sum Function, Average Function, Count Function, Max Function, and Min Value for a range of cells. In this lesson we will be learning about functions.The first step is we need to select a cell in order to insert a function. Then type on the formula bar = and then type the function name if you know the type of function you want to use, if you don’t know or you don’t remember the function you can search for the function by clicking on the insert function button located near the formula bar. A window will appear that says insert function and it will show you every function Microsoft Excel has to offer and gives a brief description on what each function does. For this example, I will select the IF function, once you have found the desired function, with your mouse click on ok. Then another window will pop up that says function arguments. This is where we need to type the function arguments. The IF function has three arguments, The first argument is logical_test which is the value or expression that can be evaluated to be either true or false. The second argument is value_if_true which is the value or expression that will be displayed if the result of the logical_test is true. And The third argument is value_if_false which is the value or expression that will be displayed if the result of the logical_test is false. For example, in the first argument, I will type in Logical_Test, that IF A3 is a bigger value than B3. Basically it means if the value A3 IS GREATER THAN > value B3. For the second argument, we must remember the first argument is, if A3 is greater than B3. If this expression is true. Then the word “Largest” will be displayed. For the third argument, we must remember what the first argument is, which is if A3 is greater than B3 if this expression is false. Then the word ‘Smallest’ will be displayed. Now that we are done we will click on ok and it will show you the end result. As you can see it displays the words Largest, this is because A3 is 12 and B3 is 10 the expression states if A3 is greater than B3 which is true because 12 is greater than 10.
This course was designed to only teach basics in Microsoft Excel. Its intended for those who wish to gain some knowledge on the basics of Microsoft Excel. Thank you for your interest in this introductory course in Microsoft Excel. If you’d like to learn more I suggest you to read the following book:
Excel 2019 All-in-One For Dummies 1st Edition
By Greg Harvey
ISBN-13: 978-1119517948
Graduated 2020 From New York City College of Technology
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