Exploring Microsoft Excel 2000 – 2003

Part II

Natalia Mosina-2005

BOOKS

Robert Grauer and Maryann Barber

Using Excel Effectively

Enter cell addresses in formulas and functions by pointing Use the mouse to select the cell(s) More accurate than typing cell references

Use the fill handle to copy Select the cell(s) and drag to copy to a

destination range Shape of the cursor must be a crosshair to

use the fill handle to copy cells. Insert comments

PointingUse the mouse to select the cells to be included in the formula

Notice the color coding between the borders around the selected cells and the formula in the formula bar

Using the Fill Handle (instead of copy/paste) to copy formulas

Select cells E2:H2. Dragging the fill handle will copy all four cells to lower rows.

Border around selected area. Release the mouse and formulas are copied

Practice with fill handle to copy

To master any technique it is important to practice.

Let’s see how this fill handle works using simple sample data.

Use pointing instead of typing to enter the formula

Select C1. Point to the low right corner and notice how the pointerChanged to the crosshair. Click and drag down till C5. Release mouse.

Copy by dragging. Watch out for crosshair.Release mouse to finish copying.

Inserting Comments

Comments provide explanation for values and/or descriptions of formulas

Office and Internet

The Internet and World Wide Web are thoroughly integrated into Office through two basic capabilities. You can insert a hyperlink into any Office

document, then view the associated Web page from within the document.

You can also save any Office document as a Web page, which in turn can be displayed through a Web browser.

Excel and the Internet

Insert a hyperlink into a worksheet Hyperlink: a reference to another document

Save a workbook as a Web page A “web page” is another name for an HTML

document

A Web Page

Page is viewed through a Web browser

Clicking the hyperlink will take you to the designated Web site

Inserting a Hyperlink

Select the cell that will contain the hyperlink #1

If the cell is blank, type the hyperlink text in the Text to Display box

Enter the Web address (URL) of the site you wish to open

The Save As Web Page Command

Enter the name for your Web page

By default, the Single File Web Page format is selected.

Exercise: Internet and Excel. This exercise requires that you have an Internet

connection to test the hyperlink. You will hide first column in your Better Grade Book file

and will insert Student ID column. You will insert a hyperlink into an Excel workbook, then

follow the link. Next, you will save a workbook as an HTML document

(under the new name Better Grade Book as Web Page) and view it using your browser.

Use a Handout as a guide in this exercise.

http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~nmosina

Enter the above URL

Round-Trip HTML

Edit with Microsoft Excel button lets you start Excel and edit the worksheet

Selecting a Non-Contiguous Range

Drag through cells to select destination range

Hold the Ctrl key, then select additional cells

Conditional FormattingUse this dialog to set criteria, in this case <0

Select cells to apply conditional formatting

Click Format button to open Format Cells dialog

Spreadsheets in decision making.

Excel can help you in decision making. We will continue working with predefined

functions. We will consider financial functions such as

PMT – function that determines monthly payments on a loan, and FV – future value.

We will introduce statistical functions and conditional functions.

We will introduce the Goal Seek command.

Using Functions

Function – a predefined computational task; a predefined formula.

Requires (0 or more) arguments(separated by commas) as input. Arguments - values the function uses to

calculate answers Returns a value as output. Excel has more that 100 different functions in

various categories. Financial functions are very important in business.

The PMT Function

Calculates a periodic payment, such as a car or mortgage payment

Based on: Amount financed (amount of loan) Interest rate

per period (annual rate divided by 12) Number of periods (n years*12 months/year)

Using the PMT function

(monthly) Interest rate

Number of (monthly) payments

Amount financed expressed as a negative number(Bank’s view):The money is lent to you and represent an outflow of cash from the bank.

Amount financed, (yearly) interest rate, and the term (in years), are all isolated as assumptions. One or more assumptions can be changed

The FV function

Returns the future value of a series of payments For example, contributions to your 401K or IRA (under

either plan, an individual saves for his or her retirement by making a fixed contribution each year. The money is allowed to accumulate tax-free until retirement).

FV based on: Number of periods Expected rate of return per period Amount invested each period

FV deals with constant periodic payments and a constant interest rate.

Using the FV Function

Amount of contribution, rate of return, and years contributing are all expressed as assumptions

Inserting a Function

Use the Insert Function command from the Insert menu

Use the list box to select the name of the function Functions are categorized

Let the Wizard help you enter the arguments Point to enter cell references Use the Collapse button to collapse the dialog

box

The Function WizardEnter arguments into text boxes

Collapse button shrinks dialog box if necessary

Value returned by the function (answer) is displayed

The Goal Seek Command

Allows you to set an end result and vary an input (assumption) to produce that result Only one input can be varied at a time

All other assumptions remain constant For example, set a desired monthly car

payment Vary the amount financed Interest rate and number of months remain the

same

Using the Goal Seek Command

Enter the cell containing the desired result

Enter the desired value

Enter the cell containing an input to change

Hands-on Exercise 1

Title of Exercise: Basic Financial Functions Objective: To illustrate the PMT and FV

functions; to illustrate the Goal Seek command. Input file: None Output file: Basic Financial Functions Use Handout for step by step instructions

Statistical Functions

MAX, MIN, and AVERAGE functions Return highest, lowest, and average values from

an argument list Argument list may include cell references, cell

ranges, values, functions, or formulas Cells that are empty or contain text are not included

COUNT and COUNTA functions COUNT returns number of cells containing

numeric entries or formulas that return a number COUNTA also includes cells with text

Using Functions versus Formulas

In general, use functions instead of formulas Functions can use ranges that are adjusted as

rows or columns are deleted or added within the range referenced by the function

With formulas Adding a row adjusts the cell references in the

formula, but does not include the new row in the formula

Deleting a row may cause a #REF error message (it means that a referenced cell has been deleted)

The IF Function

Enables decision making in a worksheet Requires three arguments:

A condition A value if the condition is true A value if the condition is false

Condition must be able to be evaluated as true or false Uses relational operators (=, <, etc.)

Using the IF Function

Value_if_true entered as a value. Value_if_false entered as a cell reference

The VLOOKUP function

Allows Excel to look up a value in a table and return a related value

Requires three arguments: the numeric value (or cell) to look up the range of the table the column number containing the value you

want to return

Using the VLOOKUP Function

This argument tells the function where to look. Absolute references used for the table

Look in the second column of the table, NOT in column J

Look up the value found in cell I4, in this case, the semester average

Working With Large Worksheets

Scrolling causes the screen to move horizontally or vertically as you change the active cell Drag the horizontal or vertical scroll bars Click above or below vertical scroll bars Click to the left or right of horizontal scroll bars

Freezing Panes allows row and column headings to remain visible while scrolling

Hiding rows and columns makes rows and columns invisible on the monitor or when printed

Freezing Panes

As you scroll back up, rows 4-8 will become visible again

Printing Large Worksheets

Page Preview command (View menu) lets you see where the page breaks are

Page Setup command (File menu) lets you change how the sheet prints Change from portrait (8 ½ x 11) to landscape

(11 x 8 ½) Change margins Scale the worksheet to print on one sheet

The AutoFilter Command

Allows you to display a selected set of rows within a worksheet Displays rows that meet selected criteria Other rows are hidden, not deleted

Select Filter then AutoFilter from the Data menu

Select criteria from the dropdown

Using the AutoFilter CommandClick the dropdown on the Homework column, then select Poor as the criteria