Excel Review

By Mr. Griffin

Elmira Business Institute

Identify Excel components

Descriptions of Excel components

Excel’s arithmetic operators

Arithmetic operations, symbols and description of their use.

Know the order of precedence

The order of precedence rules must be considered when creating expressions. The chart below illustrates Excel’s order of precedence and shows sample expressions and the result of each expression.

Key Excel Terminology

• Spreadsheet

• Column, Row

• Formula, Function

• Format

• Worksheet, Workbook, File

• Absolute, Relative

• Adjacent, Nonadjacent

Functions

• What exactly are functions?

• Why do we use functions?

Sum Function

• Used to add a group of numbers

Format

• Single Range =sum(a1:a20)

• Multiple Ranges, Adjacent Columns=sum(a1:b20)

• Multiple Ranges, Nonadjacent Columns=sum(a1:a20,c1:c20)

Average Function

• Calculates the Average

Format

• Single Range =average(a1:a20)

• Multiple Ranges, Adjacent Columns=average(a1:b20)

• Multiple Ranges, Nonadjacent Columns=average(a1:a20,c1:c20)

Max and Min Functions

• Max – finds the largest number in a given range=max(a1:a20) or =max(a1:b20) or =max(a1:a20,c1:c20)

• Min – Finds the smallest number in a given range

• =min(a1:a20) or =min(a1:b20) or =min(a1:a20,c1:c20)

– Return highest or lowest, 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

Other functions ***• These functions are written the same way as the Sum function – they follow

the same exact rules.

=median(range) Example =median(a1:a20)Returns median of the range

=stdev(range) Example =stdev(a1:a20)Returns the Standard Deviation of the Range

=mode(range) Example =mode(a1:a20)Returns the Mode of range

These functions follow the same rules as the Sum function – adjacent/nonadjacent, multiple ranges, etc..

• *** not on the Excel Exam

Counting Functions

• Count

• Counta

• Countif

• Countblank

COUNT FUNCTION

• Count – counts numeric entries

COUNTA FUNCTION

• Counta- counts all entries in a given range – numeric entries and text entries

Countif Function

• Countif- counts entries in a specific range that meet criteria

Countblank Function

• Countblank – counts blank entries in a given range

Sumif Function

• Sumif- adds entries that meet specific criteria

PMT Function

• Calculates Payment

Vlookup• Vlookup- vertical lookup 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

• Cousin of the Hlookup

Today function

• Places current date on the spreadsheet

• Can be used in time/date calculations

Rank Function

• Ranks cells in a spreadsheet. Orders cells in 1-2-3 order

If Fuction

• 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.)

Formatting your Spreadsheet

Graphing

Common Error Messages

• #value – Excel expected to find a number, but found text – check your formula

• #ref – the cell referenced in the formula is not found – often from typing errors- named cells or cells located on other sheets – check your formula

• ##### - generally not an error at all. You need to resize your column width.

Calculating Percentages

Page Setup

Page tab controls print orientation and scaling

Margins tab is used to set top, bottom, left and right margins

Page Setup (continued)

Header/Footer tab allows user to create headers and footers for each printed sheet

Sheet tab is used to control repeating rows or columns or print gridlines

Display the Cell Formulas

CTRL + ~