spreadsheet APPLICATIONS

Fundamentals of Excel

The following provides an introduction to spreadsheets and Excel, the spreadsheet

program in the Microsoft Office Suite.

A spreadsheet is the computerized equivalent of an accountant's ledger. It is divided

into rows and columns, with each row and column assigned a heading. In Excel, a

spreadsheet is called a worksheet. A workbook contains one or more worksheets. Every

cell in a worksheet contains either a formula or a constant. A formula begins with an

equal sign and is a combination of numerical constants, cell references, arithmetic

operators, and/or functions. A constant is an entry that does not change and may be

numeric or descriptive text.

The Excel screen contains a common set of elements, which include the following

(Gaskin, Ferrett, Vargas, & Marks, 2008):

Formula bar: This displays the value or formula in the active cell and allows

editing of values and formulas.

Name box: This displays the name of a selected cell, table, chart, or object.

Quick Access Toolbar: This displays frequently used commands for the Excel

application and can be customized by the user.

Ribbon: This tool groups related commands for workbook tasks.

Status bar: This displays the current cell mode, page number, and worksheet

information. It also shows when numerical data are selected as well as common

calculations such as Sum and Average.

Title bar: This displays the title of the current workbook and the program

name.

Worksheet grid: This displays the rows and columns that make up the

worksheet.

Some of the functionality Excel provides includes the following:

insert and delete: These are commands that add or remove individual cells,

rows, or columns of a worksheet.

ranges: These are groups of selected cells. Noncontiguous ranges may be

selected by using the Control key.

format cells: This function controls the formatting for numbers, alignment,

font, borders, and patterns.

absolute and relative references: Absolute references are copied cells that

remain constant through the copy process. Relative references adjust the

formula for the new location.

A relative reference changes both the row and column when the cell containing the

reference is copied to other cells in the worksheet. An absolute reference remains

constant throughout the copy operation. A mixed reference modifies the row or

column, respectively. Most spreadsheets can be built through combinations of relative

and absolute addresses. Mixed references are required for more advanced spreadsheets.

The initial conditions and assumptions on which a spreadsheet is based should be

isolated so their values can be easily changed. The formulas in the main body of the

spreadsheet typically contain absolute references to these assumptions. The placement

of assumptions and initial conditions is not a requirement of Excel; however, it is

crucial to the development of accurate and flexible worksheets.

Other features of Excel include the following:

Fill: This tool is used for entering cell references through pointing and dragging

with the fill handle.

Web features: These include inserting hyperlinks, saving the spreadsheet as an

HTML document, and downloading Web information through queries for use

in an Excel spreadsheet.

Date arithmetic: An example of date arithmetic is the calculation of number of

the elapsed days between two dates.

There are many more features to be explored in Excel. The Help function in Excel is a

good resource for information on the many functions provided by this tool.

Reference

Gaskin, S., Ferrett, R., Vargas, A., & Marks, S. (2008). GO! with Microsoft Office

2007 introductory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.