BASIC FORMULAS,

FUNCTIONS AND CHARTS

EXCEL 2013
 BASIC MATH FUNCTIONS

• Math functions built into them. Of the most basic

operations are the standard multiply, divide, add
and subtract.
 ORDER OF OPERATIONS

• When using several operations in one formula, Excel

follows the order of operations for math.
• first: all parentheses - innermost first
• second: exponents (^)
• third: all multiplication (*) and division (/). Do
these starting with the leftmost * or /
and work to the right.
• fourth: all addition (+) and subtraction (-). Do
these starting with the leftmost + or -
and work to the right.

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PLEASE EXCUSE MY DEAR AUNT SALLY

• The sentence "Please excuse my dear aunt

Sally" is a popular mneumonic to remember the
order of operations:
Menumonic Meaning
• Please parentheses

• Excuse exponents

• My Dear mulitplication and division

(going left to right)
• Aunt Sally addition and subtraction
(going left to right)

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 SUM FUNCTION

Definition: Tips:
• Probably the most • Blank cells will return a
popular function in any value of zero to be
spreadsheet is the SUM added to the total.
function. The Sum
function takes all of the
• Text cells can not be
values in each of the added to a number
specified cells and totals and will produce an
their values. error.
• The syntax is: =SUM(first
value, second value, etc)
SUM FUNCTION
 AVERAGE FUNCTION

• The average
function finds the
average of the
specified data.
(Simplifies adding all
of the indicated
cells together and
dividing by the total
number of cells.)
 MAX & MIN FUNCTIONS

• The Max function will return the

largest (max) value in the selected
range of cells. The Min function will
display the smallest value in a
selected set of cells.
 COUNT FUNCTION

• The Count function will return the number of

entries (actually counts each cell that contains
NUMBER DATA) in the selected range of cells.
• Remember: cell that are blank or contain text will
not be counted.
COMMON ERRORS
EXCEL 2013
THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME ERRORS THAT MAY APPEAR
IN A SPREADSHEET (THERE ARE OTHERS TOO).

– #######
• Cell is too narrow to display the results of the formula. To fix this simply make the
column wider and the “real” value will be displayed instead of the ###### signs.
Note that even when the ###### signs are being displayed, Excel still uses the
“real” value to calculate formulas that reference this cell.

– #NAME?
• You used a cell reference in the formula that is not formed correctly (e.g. =BB+10
instead of =B3+10)

– #VALUE!
• Usually the result of trying to do math with a textual value. Example: =A1*3 where
A1 contains the word “hello”

– #DIV/0!
• Trying to divide by zero. Example: =3/A1 where A1 contains 0 (zero)

– Circular Reference
• Using a formula that contains a reference to the cell that the formula “lives in”.
Example: putting the formula =A1+1 in cell A1 or putting the formula
=SUM(A1:B2) in any of the cells A1, B1, A2, B2
CHARTS AND GRAPHS
EXCEL 2013
CHARTS AND GRAPHS
• Generally charts also consist of
descriptive text

• Depending on type of chart text may

be
• On the left and/or across the bottom

• On different areas within the chart

• Title usually across top

• Start by selecting the data the chart will

be based on

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 Want to show the budget allocation change over the 4
month period
Select the data, click on the INSERT tab, then launch the
CHART dialog box
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Initially shows recommended charts

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Click for a
preview

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Chart Tools tab is displayed and chart area is surrounded
by a border with resize handles. Can move chart by
clicking and dragging on the border.

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CHARTS AND GRAPHS
• Chart consists of many elements
• Background
• Axes
• Legend
• Grid
• Labels
• The graphic may also be comprised of
many pieces that can be manipulated
• Individual slices in a pie chart
• To the right of the chart are quick
access buttons

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Click on a chart element,
like the title, to select it
and then edit and format
to your liking

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 Control the chart’s
Elements, Style, and
Filter with these quick
access buttons

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Add some data labels

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 Pretty ugly
However each individual label can be manipulated

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Got rid of the legend at the bottom too

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Style lets you quickly change the over all chart look

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Or just the data area appearance

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Filter lets you remove entire categories of info

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Since the value of Rent didn’t change, took it out better
tell Mary’s story

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As mentioned, can select individual chart components
and format

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Made a couple more changes to tidy up the chart

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Can click and drag to move and resize the chart

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 Or put chart in a separate sheet
Click move chart, specify new sheet and name

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Changes in the SS data values immediately reflected in
the chart

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 CHART TYPES
• Different chart types have
advantages and disadvantages

• Pie chart
• Good for single period, relative
comparison between many value

• Column charts
• Good for showing change over time
for a single category

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 CHART TYPES
• Different chart types have
advantages and disadvantages

• Line charts
• Good for showing change over time

• Good for multiply categories of info

• Bar charts
• Most are just column charts turned sideways

• However, Gantt charts useful for showing

schedules

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Gantt Chart

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 CHART TYPES
• Scatter charts
• Good for showing correlations between
two categories of data

• Area charts
• Sort of a filled in stacked line chart

• Good at showing multiple categories of info

changing over tiem
• Like Mary’s budget

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 CHART TYPES
• Combination charts
• Good for comparing two type of data that
have different scales

• Y axis usually has two different scales

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ACTIVITY
QUIZ
 QUIZ
END OF PRESENTATION