Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel

Click on “Start,” then “Microsoft Office Excel 2007.”

Click on “Start,” then “Microsoft Office Excel 2007.”

If Excel does not appear, click on “All Programs,” then “Microsoft Office,” then “Microsoft Office Excel

If Excel does not appear, click on “All Programs,” then “Microsoft Office,” then “Microsoft Office Excel 2007.”

When you first open Excel or Word 2007, you may be surprised by its new look.

When you first open Excel or Word 2007, you may be surprised by its new look. Most of the changes are in the Ribbon, the area that spans the top of Word.

Tabs sit across the top of the Ribbon. Each one represents core tasks you do in a given program.

Tabs sit across the top of the Ribbon. Each one represents core tasks you do in a given program. Groups are sets of related commands. They remain on display and readily available, giving you rich visual aids. Commands are arranged in groups. A command can be a button, a menu, or a box where you enter information.

Sometimes an arrow, called the Dialog Box Launcher, appears in the lower-right corner of a group.

Sometimes an arrow, called the Dialog Box Launcher, appears in the lower-right corner of a group. This means more options are available for the group. On the Home tab, click the arrow in the Font group. The Font dialog box opens, with the full selection of font commands.

The Microsoft Office Button appears in the upper-left corner of the window in several Microsoft Office pr

The Microsoft Office Button appears in the upper-left corner of the window in several Microsoft Office programs, such as Word and Excel.

Let’s examine the different areas of the Excel worksheet

Let’s examine the different areas of the Excel worksheet

Each box is called a “cell.”

Each box is called a “cell.” Column headings Row headings

Name box (active cell)

Name box (active cell) Formula Bar (information in the active cell) Worksheet (a sheet of cells)

Workbook (the full Excel file with all Worksheets).

Workbook (the full Excel file with all Worksheets). Navigation buttons (for switching between worksheets).

Information can only be entered into active cells. Click the cell you wish to add information to and begi

Information can only be entered into active cells. Click the cell you wish to add information to and begin typing.

Press the Enter key to advance to the next cell down.

Press the Enter key to advance to the next cell down.

Press the Tab key to go to the next cell on the right.

Press the Tab key to go to the next cell on the right.

**Hitting enter and tab are actually time savers. When there is any action that you can accomplish withou

Hitting enter and tab are actually time savers. When there is any action that you can accomplish without taking your hands off the keyboard, you are actually saving a little bit of time.

Now go to your formatting dropdown menu and choose the NUMBER format.

First, click on the little button where the left side of column A and the top of row 1 meet. This will highlight your whole sheet. Now go to your formatting dropdown menu and choose the NUMBER format.

4 kinds of information Microsoft Excel recognizes

4 kinds of information Microsoft Excel recognizes Logical values (TRUE or FALSE, also called Boolean values) Numerical values Text values, and Error types Data Types

The Logical Data Type

The Logical Data Type Logical values are either TRUE or FALSE. The statement "1 is less than 2" is recognizable as a true statement. Another way to put that is: 1 < 2 = TRUE

Speaker notes: In most cases, logical values will be present as the result of the evaluation of an expression or function. Essentially, a logical value represents the resolution of an expression indicating whether certain conditions have been met. For example:

If we add change one of the values, the expression will no longer return true:

If we add change one of the values, the expression will no longer return true: Speaker notes: When evaluating logical expressions, Excel recognizes the text TRUE as a logical (or boolean) value. Excel also treats the value 0 as false, and any other numerical value as true. For example, we can make a logical comparison about the values in two different cells by typing an expression:

The Number Data Type

The Number Data Type Numerical values are numbers. The thing to remember here is that to Excel, all of the following are numbers: 15,000; 100; $50; $50.00; 75%; 0.5; 5.35E+04; and 12/25/2012. Speaker notes: To Excel, dates are also stored as plain old numbers. We'll discuss THAT in a minute.

Take a look at what you might type in or see displayed in a cell, vs. what excel is actually storing:

Take a look at what you might type in or see displayed in a cell, vs. what excel is actually storing: Speaker notes: Some of you may not be familiar with the second from the right, known as Scientific E notation. Don't worry about that right now. Scientific E notation is a a sort of shorthand for expressing very large (or very small) numbers The example above is trivial for the purpose of illustration.

The important thing to remember is that numbers in Excel can be no more than 15 significant digits in len

The important thing to remember is that numbers in Excel can be no more than 15 significant digits in length. This excludes zeros on either side of the number: 99999999999999900000 is 20 numerals, but only contains 15 significant digits; the fifteen "9's" to the left of the five zeros. Likewise, .00000999999999999999 is also twenty decimal places, but contains only fifteen significant digits).

Speaker notes: Some of you may not be familiar with the second from the right, known as Scientific E notation. Don't worry about that right now. Scientific E notation is a a sort of shorthand for expressing very large (or very small) numbers The example above is trivial for the purpose of illustration.

Numbers which are entered that contain more than 15 significant digits will be shortened. That is, significant digits will be lopped off the right-hand side and replaced with zeros. Note in the examples below, we can type in 19 significant digits (fourteen 9's followed by 87654). Once we hit "Enter", the significant digits in excess of 15 are truncated, leaving 0's):

Dates and Times

Dates and Times Dates are stored as the number of days since the date 1/1/1900 Excel treats Times as fractions of days. Speaker notes: 1.) In other words, January 1, 1900 is considered by Excel to be 1. Therefore, 1/2/1900 would be stored as 2, 1/3/1900 as 3, and so on. Note that Excel does not recognize dates BEFORE 1/1/1900. We'll see why this matters in the next post about functions and expressions.

2.) Since a day is 24 hours in length, then 1/4th of a day (0.25) would be 6 hours. Since each day begins at 0 hours and 24 hours later, Excel would store the date and time for 6:00 AM on 1/1/1900 as 1.25.

Values vs. Formats

Values vs. Formats The manner in which Excel displays a given numerical value within a cell is known as formatting. Speaker notes: The key thing about numbers in Excel is that you need to separate in your mind the number VALUE from the way it is DISPLAYED.