1. Exploring Microsoft Excel 2003
Chapter 1 – Introduction to Excel: What is a Spreadsheet?
Robert Grauer and Maryann Barber
Committed to Shaping the Next Generation of IT Experts.
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

2. Introduction to Spreadsheets
Spreadsheet – a computerized ledger
Divided into rows and columns
Columns identified with alphabetic headings
Rows identified with numeric headings
Cell – the intersection of a row and a column
Cell reference uniquely identifies a cell
Consists of column letter and row number
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

3. Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber
Rows, Columns, and Cells
Cell referenced by column, then number
Active cell surrounded by heavy border
Column headings above each column. Columns designated with letters
Row headings to the left of each row. Rows designated with numbers
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

4. Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber
Types of Cell Entries
Constant – an entry that does not change
Can be a numeric value or descriptive text
Function – a predefined computational task
Formula – a combination of numeric constants, cell references, arithmetic operators, and functions
Always begins with an equal sign
Functions are predefined tasks; users cannot change them. Formulas often include functions, but all the logic is supplied by the user.
The fewer constants a formula or function contains, the more flexibility the worksheet will have. Emphasize using worksheets as a general problem solving tool, rather than using them to solve a problem with a specific set of data.
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

5. Introduction to Microsoft Excel
Common user interface with other Office applications
Menus and toolbars are similar to Word and Power Point
Workbook – contains one or more worksheets
Worksheet – an Excel spreadsheet
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

6. Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber
An Excel Workbook
Menu bar gives lists of commands
Formatting toolbar
Spend time going over the Excel environment. Many people are so accustomed to using icons they get confused when you mention the menu bar.
Title bar shows name of workbook
Standard toolbar
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

7. The Active Cell, Formula Bar, and Worksheet Tabs
Formula bar displays contents of active cell
Active cell is highlighted
Click tabs to move to a different worksheet
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

8. Modifying the Worksheet: The Insert Command
Can be used to add rows, columns, or cells
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

9. Modifying the Worksheet: The Delete Command
If deleting a cell, specify whether to move other cells up or to the left
Students will often press the Delete key. Pressing that key performs the Clear command, which removes the contents of the cell, but does not delete the cell from the worksheet. It is the best choice to simply erase data from a cell.
Students need to check formulas after using either the Insert and Delete commands to ensure the formulas don’t rely on a cell that was deleted.
Specify whether you’re deleting cell, row, or column
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

10. Display the Cell Formulas
Ctrl ~
Press the Ctrl key and the ~ to toggle between displaying cell values and formulas. Printing a sheet that displays the formulas and storing it in a safe location can help rebuild the worksheet, should it ever be lost or corrupted. It also provides a frame of reference, should modifications be needed in the future.
As often as most businesses install new computers and servers, worksheet files are lost all the time.
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

11. Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber
Using Cell Ranges
Range – a rectangular group of cells
May be a single cell or the entire worksheet
May consist of a row (or part of a row), a column (or part of a column) or multiple rows and/or columns
To select a range:
Click left mouse button at the beginning of the range
Hold left mouse button as you drag the mouse
Release left mouse button at the end of the range
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

12. Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber
Cell Referencing
Absolute reference: remains constant when copied
Specified with dollar signs before the column and row
Relative reference: adjusts during a copy operation
Specified without dollar signs, i.e. B4
Mixed reference: either the row or the column is absolute; the other is relative
Specified with a dollar sign before the absolute part of the reference, i.e. B$4
You cannot overemphasize the distinction between these types of cell references. On tests, especially MOUS certification tests, students will need to be able to copy formulas. Learning the distinction between the types of references is easy, but unless students know which type to use, they will struggle.
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

13. Absolute and Relative References
Absolute references are used to refer to the weight of each exam. These weights do not change for each student, so absolute references are needed to keep those references constant as the formula is copied
Relative references are used to refer to each student’s exam scores. These scores do change for each student, so relative references are needed to make sure each student’s average reflects his/her scores
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

14. Compute the Student Semester Averages
Absolute and relative references used in formulas
Again, stress why absolute and relative cells references are used.
Create the formula in cell E4 and copy to other cells
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

15. Isolating the Assumptions
New student averages are automatically recalculated
Assumptions (the exam weights) are isolated physically from the formulas. All formulas refer to the cells containing the exam weights (the assumptions), not the values of those weights. Building formulas in this way makes the worksheet more flexible and easier to use. If formulas referred to the exam weights, rather than the cells containing the weights, and you wanted to change the weights, you would have to change the formula, then copy the formula with the new weights to the other cells.
Notice that the absolute references in the formulas refer to the assumptions. This is often the case.
Enter new exam weights in row 13
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

16. Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber
Formatting Cells
Format Cells command – controls the formatting for numbers, alignment, fonts, borders, and patterns (color)
Select-then-do
Select the cells to which the formatting will apply
Execute the Format Cells command
Demonstrate how to use the Ctrl key to select a non-contiguous block of cells. Demonstrate how to use the Shift key to quickly select a large block of cells. Consider showing students the AutoFormat command. It supplies built-in formats for professional looking spreadsheets. It is useful to use on its own, or can be tweaked and customized.
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber

17. The Format Cells Command
Number tab allows you to specify appearance of numbers
Alignment tab specifies vertical and horizontal alignment
Font tab allows you to specify font type and size
One of the most important formatting decisions is the number of decimal places numbers should have. If a column contains any mixed numbers, all numbers in that column should contain the same number of decimal places. Numbers are right-aligned by default and should remain that way, so that decimal places line up. If the column is wide, change the alignment of the text label for that column to right; otherwise, when the worksheet is printed, the text label won’t look like it belongs to that column of numbers.
Use borders and patterns sparingly and only for emphasis. If everything is emphasized, where is the emphasis?
Borders and Patterns tabs allow you to create special effects
Exploring Office 2003 Vol 1 2/e - Grauer and Barber