St.

Mary University
Faculty of Informatics
Introduction to computer for social science students

Chapter Four
Microsoft-Excel
What is MS-EXCEL?
 It is application software.
 Is an electronic spreadsheet of MS-Office package.
 It is designed to analyze numerical data.
 It helps you to create invoices (record of a sale).
 It is used to create simple and complex mathematical & logical operations.

Starting Excel
 Click on Start All ProgramsMicrosoft Office MS-Excel
 Click on Start Runtype EXCEL (excel) ok
 Right click on desktopopen New Microsoft Excel Worksheet

Elements of MS-EXCEL
Workbook: - It is a group of worksheets found in a particular excel document.
-An Excel file is called a Workbook.
-Each workbook consists three worksheets by default, however users can create as
many as their computer memory allows them.

Worksheet: - It is working area of MS-Excel.

- It contains 16,384 columns & 1,048576 rows.

Cell: - It is an intersection point of each row & column.

Active Cell: - It is a cell that you are working on. It will be covered by the border.
Row headings: -It is represented by numbers starting from 1 to 1,048576. (CTRL+ )
Column Headings: -It is represented by Alphabet Letters in upper case. It starts with A to XFD by
repeating each alphabetic letter. (CTRL+  )
Formula Bar/Box/: - displays the content of the active cell. When anything written to the
cell it will displayed inside formula bar.
Name Box: - displays the name of the active cell. Cell name should always read from column to
rows like A1, D2, E12, J28…but the reverse in not true like 1A, 2D…can’t be cell names.

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 St. Mary University
Faculty of Informatics
Introduction to computer for social science students

Name Box Formula Bar/Box/

Screen Elements of MS-Excel

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 St. Mary University
Faculty of Informatics
Introduction to computer for social science students

Excel Editing Operation

 Editing operation of MS-Excel is similar to MS-Word.
 Copy /Paste: - it is used to duplicate a selected range of cells.
 Cut/Paste: - It is used to move a selected range of cells.
 Fill Handle: - it is used to duplicate/ fill a selected range of paternal
values. It is possible to fill months, days, and numbers. Simply select at
least two values of MS-Excel cells which contain paternal values, when
the cursor changed in to black small cross symbol fills down or simply
drag to the left or down based on your need.

 “#####” occurs when you type large number in a cell. To fix this problem,
Widen the cell to the right, then you can see the hidden number.
Renaming Worksheet
 Right click on the sheet you want to rename or simply double click on ittype
the new name Press Enter to keep the new name.
Deleting Worksheet

 Right click on the sheet you want to delete click delete option
Inserting Worksheet

 Right click on the sheet tabclick insertclick worksheet click ok

Inserting column/Row

 Select the cell/column/row where you need to insert the new one  right click insert 
Click cell/row/column.
Note: - When you insert or delete the column/row/cell the default total number will not be changed.

Excel Formatting Operation

 It is possible to format excel cell like MS-word.

 Click Home menu from the menu-barClick format option from home menu
toolbarsClick format Cells option or simply click F1 key from the keyboard.

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 St. Mary University
Faculty of Informatics
Introduction to computer for social science students

Contents of MS-Excel Format Window (Format cells)

 General tab: - it is used to format Number (use comma & add decimal
places) & currency (add monetary values).
 Alignment tab: -it is used to change the Alignment, Merge cells, wrap
text (ALT+ENTER), Shrink cells and change orientation.
 Font: - it is simply the font dialogue box
 Border: - it is used to add outer & inner border for the selected range of
cells.
 Shading: - it is used to add shading colors.
Formula
 It is a mathematical operation created by the user.
 The user must define each & every content of the formula.
 To define a formula you should begin with equal sign “=”.
Basic operators of MS-Excel

Operator Operations
+ It performs Addition operation
- It performs Subtraction Operation
* (Asterisk) It performs Multiplication operation
/ (Forward slash) It performs Division operation
^ (Caret) It is used to calculate Power of a given number (E.g. 2^4 means 24)
>/>= It means Greater than/Greater than or equal to
</<= It means Less than/Less than or equal to
Function
 It contains multiple built-in mathematical & logical operations.
 No need of defining formula simply inserting the function is enough.
 A function is written by this format =Function name ( )
 E.g. = POWER ( )

Inserting Function

 Simply click option from the formula bar/box/.

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 St. Mary University
Faculty of Informatics
Introduction to computer for social science students

Types of Function
 =SUM ( ):- it is used to add values or selected range of cells.

Range: - it is a group of multiple selected cells. The range is identified by its range reference.
for example, =SUM (A1:E1).
 =AVERAGE ( ):- it is used to perform average of selected range of cells or values.
 =MIN ( ):- it is used to return the largest number from a selected range of cells or values.
 =MAX ( ):- it is used to return the largest number from a selected range of cells or values.
 =PRODUCT ( ):- it is used to multiply values or selected range of cells or values.
 =SUM( ):-There is no subtraction function so negate cells instead e.g. =SUM(A1,-B1)
 =IF ( ):- it is used to perform conditional statement and comparisons for the
selected range of cells. It contains three parameters or arguments.
1. Logical _ test: - This is the place where conditional/Comparison
statements are written. Always use the first value of a column/row you
want to define the conditional statement.
 If the comparison is numeric value simply write as it is
inside Logical test box E.g. C2>=90, C2<=90 …. etc.
 The comparison is in letter/or text format you should write it
inside double “”. E.g. C2=” A”, C2=” Excellent” …
 =IF (G2>85,"A", IF (G2>75,"B", IF (G2>65,"C", IF (G2>55,"D", F))))
2. Value_ if_ true: - is the place where the result of true statement written.
3. Value_ if_ false: - it is the place where the result of false statement written.
 =RANK ( ):- it is used to return the Level (Rank) of a selected range of cells. It contains
three parameters.
1. Number: - It is the place where the first value of the range will be inserted
2. Reference: - It is the p lace where the entire values of the range will be
inserted. After the selection of the reference you should press F4 key to
make it absolute. “$” sign represent absolute Reference. In MS-Excel
there are three types of referencing styles
 Relative Referencing: - This is a type of referencing which
changes the value and the cell names relatively. For example,
when you calculate the sum of one column and fill to the other the
formula will be copied but the value will be changed.
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 St. Mary University
Faculty of Informatics
Introduction to computer for social science students

 Absolute Referencing: - This is a type of referencing which always

shows similar /fixed/ ranges or values. It always has $ sign.

 Mixed Referencing: - this is a type of referencing which is made up

of absolute & relative referencing types.
E.g. used to construct multiplication table in MS-Excel.

3. Order: - it is the place where the (Ascending /Descending) orders will

be selected.
 Ascending order: - It will give smaller values to have smaller rank
and vice versa. To make it ascending give any number except 0 or
blank.
 Descending order: - It will give larger values to have smaller rank
and vice versa. To make it descending give 0 or omit the value.
DATA
 It is one menu available in menu bar found only in MS-Excel.
 There are different commands available in this menu

SORT
 It is used to rearrange a selected range of cell. There are two types of sorts
o Ascending Order: - It will rearrange range of cells from A to Z.
o Descending Order: - It will rearrange range of cells from Z to A.
 Select range of cells you want to sort  Click Data menu from the menu bar 
Click Sort option from data menu tool bar.

Filter
 It is used return values from a range of cell based on a specific condition/Criteria.
In MS-Excel There are two types of filtering Methods.
Auto Filter
 It is a filter type used to return a particular record/s only from one column at a
time based on a given criteria.
 It will add drop down menu in each column for filtering purpose. You simply
click the drop-down menu of the column you want filter data & select your
criteria.

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 St. Mary University
Faculty of Informatics
Introduction to computer for social science students

o Custom Filter is used to define particular criteria. After you apply filter
operation the drop down menu will be blue and different from the others

o To filter another record you should first return all the data by click Select
All option from the blue drop down menu.

o It is preferable for small records.

 Click Data menu from menu bar  click Filter icon from data menu
toolbar

Advanced Filter
 It is a filter type used to return a particular record/s from multiple columns at a
time based on some criteria.
 The first step is to create criteria cells to a new range of cell then select the entire
range of cell.

 Click Data menu from the menu bar Click Advanced option from
data menu toolbar.
o List range: - select the entire data here.
o Criteria Range: - select the criteria range of cell you create at the first step
o If you need to put the result in to new empty range of cell simply click
copy to option and select your new location and press ok.

Subtotal
 It is used to calculate the total and grand total of a particular range of cells.
 First sort the data with the column you want to perform the subtotal.
 Select the entire data click data menu from the menu bar  click subtotal
option from the data menu toolbar
 Subtotal contains three option

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 St. Mary University
Faculty of Informatics
Introduction to computer for social science students

o Select the column you sort your data from at each change option
o Select the function you want
o Select the field which the function you select applied to and click ok.
Charts
 It is graphical representation of data. There are different kinds of charts among the
following are popular.
 Pie:-Use this chart to show the relationship among parts of a whole.
 Bar:-Use this chart to compare values at a given point in time.
 Column:-Use this chart to emphasize the difference between items.
 Line:-Use this chart to emphasize trends and the change of values over time.
 Scatter:-Use this chart to emphasize the difference between two sets of values.
 Area:-Similar to the Line chart; use this chart to emphasize the amount of
change in values over time.
 Select range of cell  Click Insert menu from the menu bar  Click the Chart
type you want to create.
Summary
Entities included in “DATA”. i.e. Sorting ,filtering, subtotal and charts are
functionalities or operations that excel provide for data analysis.

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