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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
Do you suffer from Mathephobia – an irrational fear of mathematics? No one can get away from doing
some sort of calculation nearly every day – even if it is figuring out whether you have enough money
left for your taxi-fare! You are definitely required to think when you solve numeric problems, but do not
panic – spreadsheets can make your life much easier when you understand them. You can use
spreadsheets to analyse the data you collect for your 3rd or 4th year projects, draw charts to include in
your reports or just to keep track of your income & expenses to figure out if you can afford to buy a new
shirt or not.
A spreadsheet can be seen as a two-dimensional table formed by horizontal rows and columns. You
can think of it as an electronic sheet of paper that allows for easy entering and editing of numeric data
and calculations. For example, the slip you get from the ATM looks like a small spreadsheet – it has
an opening balance of your account, a list of your latest transactions and a closing balance; each line
has a label and an amount that may be data (e.g. amounts withdrawn) or calculations (e.g. closing
balance).
Spreadsheets are used for many purposes such as making a budget, keeping track of your monthly
expenses, keeping inventories or used in sports organisations to keep track of scores. Electronic
spreadsheets are much easier to use than paper-based spreadsheets and a less likely to contain errors
in the calculations.
When you start working with spreadsheets there are a few concepts that you need to understand:
• Workbook
In Microsoft Excel, a workbook is the file in which you work and store your data. Because each
workbook can contain many worksheets, you can organise various kinds of related information
in a single file – different kinds of data, charts created from the data, etc.
• Worksheet
A worksheet consists of cells organised into columns and rows. In MS Excel, each file may
consist of a number of worksheets. Individually, these are called sheets and together they form
a workbook.
• What-if-analysis
Once you have entered formulas in your spreadsheet, you can experiment with different
numbers and quickly see how the result changes, as the recalculations are done automatically.
This allows you to ask What if… ?: What happens if I get a raise? What will my monthly budget
be if I get a new car? What happens to my class mark if I fail the next semester test? Changing
the numbers on the spreadsheet will provide the answers quickly and accurately, so you can
evaluate the results of your changes and make appropriate decisions.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
Note that you will not be covering all these skills in this module, only 1, 2, 5 & 9 – so just view it
quickly to get an OVERVIEW of what MS Excel is about.
Screen Elements
Quick Access Toolbar Title Bar Ribbon of Tools
Tabs
Cell Address
Groups
Column Letter Dialog-box Launcher
Formula Bar
Vertical Scroll Bar
Status Bar
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
The Ribbons
At the top of the program window, directly below the title bar, is the ribbon.
The ribbon can be hidden or displayed by double-clicking any of the tabs OR, click on the Collapse the
Ribbon icon (to hide the ribbon) which toggles to the Pin the Ribbon icon (to display the ribbon).
The Ribbon consists of several tabs – some of which are very similar to the other MS Office apps like
MS Word, such as File, Home, Insert, Page Layout, Review, View and Help, but some are very
specific to working with spreadsheets, such as Formulas and Data. Even the similarly named tabs
also have different tools, specific to MS Excel. Each tab contains several tools for accessing MS Excel
settings and commands. Depending on the task you are doing within a workbook, additional context-
related tabs may appear, to help you deal with that particular task. Commonly used tabs include:
File A menu of tasks and sub-tasks, to provide options for dealing with the file containing the
workbook – e.g. Save, Print, Close and Share.
Home The default tab shown when you create a new or open an existing workbook, is the Home
tab that gives access to common commands such as changing Fonts and colours, bold
underline and Alignment, Number formatting, Styles, cell-related tasks and Editing.
Insert Tools to help you insert different types of elements into your workbook – e.g. Tables,
Illustrations, Add-ins, Charts (graphs), Sparklines, Text (for Headers & Footers) and
Symbols.
Page Includes line, paragraph and page settings for the organisation of your workbook content
Layout – e.g. Themes, Page Setup (e.g. for margins and page orientation) and Sheet Options.
Formulas The most useful tool on this ribbon is the Show Formulas tool in the Formula Auditing
group – this is a toggle tool to switch to Formula View (to see the different formulas in your
cells) and Image View (to see the results of your calculations).
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
You could use the Insert Function tool to use a function in a calculation, but the quickest
way to do this is to click on the fx tool, to the left of the Formula Bar.
Data The main tools you will use on this Ribbon are those relating to Sorting in the Sort &
Filter group.
Review Use the Proofing group tool Spelling to check that you have spelt all the words correctly
in your labels, etc. – remember to set your MS Office Dictionary to English (South
Africa).
View To set particular ways to view your workbook
Help If you cannot remember how to do a task, you could always use the Help tool with a
keyword, to allow MS Excel to provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to
accomplish a particular task. Warning: This takes a lot of time, so if you use this facility
in a test, you may run out of time to finish all the tasks assigned!
The Tab key on the keyboard moves your cell selector, one cell to the right.
Dialog-Box A pop-up window within an app, where you can select settings related to the text or object that you are
currently working on
Key When this term is used, it refers to a button on your keyboard (NOT on the screen)
Combination-Key(s): You use two or more keys to achieve a particular task. Combination keys are also called
shortcut keys because it is usually quicker to perform a task this way, rather than selecting options on
the tool ribbons, to do the same thing. When you use a combination of keys, you press one after the
other, holding them all down until the last key is pressed:
i. you hold down the modifier key(s) (e.g. Shift, Ctrl and/or Alt)
ii. then tap the other key, and
iii. then release the modifier key(s).
Combination keys are indicated using the + sign (you do not type the + sign) – e.g. Shift+A will type
the capital letter A; Shift+7 will type the symbol & (the special character above the number 7 key)
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
4. Explore the other tabs on the Tool Ribbon and review each group associated with the tab –
e.g. Click the Page Layout tab ribbon and you will notice that the groups of commands
change
5. Click back to the Home tab ribbon
6. Click the Dialog-Box Launcher in the lower-right corner of the Font Group
7. The Font dialog-box will appear, with default Font tab active
8. Scroll through the list of available fonts by dragging the vertical scroll bar up and down to
see the available fonts
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
You will notice that the Save, Undo and Redo commands have a tick next to them on the
list.
To use any of the commands displayed on the Quick Access Toolbar, you just need to click
on the task required.
13. To add the Print Preview and Print tool to the Quick Access Toolbar:
• Click on the drop-down arrow again
• Click on the option required and you should see the Quick Access toolbar with an added
icon:
14. Keep the blank workbook open as you will be using it again in Exercise 1.3
B. Typing in a Workbook
There are different types of items that you may be using in your worksheets:
Numbers
Numbers are values that can be used for mathematical manipulation (added, subtracted, etc.).
Examples of valid numbers:
3.234
-34
0.0075
Note: The decimal comma used in South African mathematics cannot be used in American software –
the Dept CS labs are set up to use the decimal point.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
Text
Text is words / letters (alphabetic) or a combination of letters and numbers (alphanumeric) and may
also include symbols. Text is used as labels for descriptions of data, e.g. Name, and the data itself,
e.g. P J Willow. Text cannot be mathematically manipulated (cannot be used in mathematical
calculations). Examples of text cell contents:
Johnson
NAME:
Score 1
Net Income
R34 per kg
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
Note that the mathematical operator for multiply is a * (asterisk) in MS Excel and the
operator for divide is a / (forward slash).
20. What you see now is the Image View – to see the formulas you typed in, click on the Show
Formulas tool in the Formula Auditing block on the Formulas tab ribbon
• Then point your mouse at the line between the A and B column labels
until it turns into and double-click (keep your mouse steady when
you do this) – ALL the columns will automatically become as wide as
they need to be, to display the longest item within each column – then
click anywhere in the grid, to deselect
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
This is where you start to specify where you would like to save the workbook
24. Click Browse – the Save As dialog-box appears – change the location to the required
drive and folder structure specified in your weekly instructions workbook
25. The file name for this file is L01Enviro-studentnumber – use your student number
without the s and no space before or after the dash (-) e.g. L01Enviro-227123456, where
you replace 22712346 with YOUR student number
26. Make sure that the Save as type is MS Excel Workbook (*.xlsx) as shown above – when
you save a workbook in MS Excel, the file is automatically given an extension of .xlsx
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
Do not change this extension and do not type .xlsx in the File name box.
27. Click Save – the name of this workbook (file) will now appear on the Title Bar
28. Close the workbook by clicking the in the top right-hand side of your screen – this will
close the MS Excel window
Use the scrollbar on the side of the list to see a more extensive list of recently used workbooks
on the right-hand side of the screen.
31. Click Browse and the Open dialog-box appears
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
32. Change the location to the drive specified in your Learning Guide and the folder where you
saved the L01Enviro-studentnumber.xlsx file and click on it
33. Click Open – the file will appear in MS Excel
34. Close MS Excel
E. Using a Template
When you start MS Excel, the first window asks you what file you want to work with. You can open an
existing saved workbook or start a new workbook which means that a new file with no text will be
opened.
The “New” option shows a list of new workbook templates. You can choose from numerous templates
in this window. These templates are pre-set workbooks available from the Microsoft cloud environment
and you can search templates using the search box. The available templates will differ depending on
whether you are connected to the internet or not. You have to be connected if you want to search for
online templates.
Take note that below the Search for online templates there are different categories
3. Below the search box, a list of common templates is shown. Use the wheel on your mouse
(or the vertical scroll-bar on the right) to scroll up and down to view the different
commonly used templates
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 1
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 2
A. Navigation
Navigation refers to moving the cursor (or insertion point) around the workbook so you can place it
where you need to make changes. You can use both the mouse and the keyboard to move through
the cells in a workbook.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 2
5. Use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the window in the same way, to move to the
left and right of a worksheet, if the whole sheet is not visible in the window:
• Click the left arrow to scroll up one row at a time
• Click the right arrow to scroll right
• Drag the scroll box to go to a specific row – as you drag the box, the row number
will be shown as a tool-tip
6. Use the navigation keys on your keyboard to move the cell selector around in the following
ways:
• Left arrow to move left one cell
• Right arrow to move right one cell
• Up arrow to move up one cell
• Down arrow to move down one cell
• Home to go to the beginning of a row
• Page Up to move up one screen’s worth of rows
• Page Down to move down one screen’s worth of rows
7. As you have not actually changed anything, no need to save your file at this point, but keep
it open as you will be using it again in Exercise 2.2
B. Selecting Cells
When you are editing a workbook, you can select portions of the workbook to change the selected cell
content for editing or formatting. When you select cells, MS Excel highlights the cells and you can
perform an action on the selected cells. To select cells, you can use the mouse or the keyboard. But
first, you need to know what a Range of cells refers to.
Notes:
If you incorrectly select a section of cells, click anywhere else in the workbook to deselect and
then try again.
If you accidentally move the selected cells while trying to select, remember to use your Undo
tool on the Quick Access Toolbar to undo the move.
If you do anything that you realise is a mistake, even if the mistake was a few tasks ago, you
can use the Undo tool repeatedly until that mistake has been taken away – just remember that
the further back you Undo, the more tasks you will have to do again – you cannot use Redo as
that will redo the mistake as well.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 2
A Range of cells
A rectangular block of 1 or more cells is called a range, indicated by the top, left cell, a colon (:) and
the bottom, right cell. The cells need to be immediately adjacent on one or more of the sides of the
cells – not corner to corner. E.g.: the range A1:B6 – cell A1 is where the range starts and cell B6 is
where the range ends and includes cells A2:A6 and B1:B6. Further examples of ranges:
The ranges illustrated are A1:D1 (multiple columns within a single row),
A3:A6 (multiple rows within a single column) and C3:D6 (multiple
columns and multiple rows). Ranges can be used in calculations, to refer
to a number of adjacent cells.
Mouse pointers
When using the mouse in MS Excel, it is very important to check what the mouse pointer looks like
before clicking or holding down the mouse button, as the different pointers indicate different
functionality.
Pointer Visible when mouse is: Function
Pointed to an area where text can be To place the typing cursor in the text area.
entered, such as the formula bar or the
active cell.
Pointed at the edge of a selected cell or To drag the selected cell or range or graphic
range. item to a different position on the worksheet.
Positioned over the dividing line between To adjust the width of the column to the left
two column labels. of the pointer.
Positioned over the dividing line between To adjust the height of the row above the
two row numbers. pointer.
Positioned over the AutoFill handle of the To copy calculations or fill a range with pre-
selected range or cell. (The small black set information such as month names or a
square in the bottom right corner of the series of values.
selected cell or range.)
Pointed at the ribbon or Quick Access To select commands
toolbar.
Moved over the worksheet cells. To select individual cells or ranges.
Positioned over a row label. To select one or more rows.
Positioned over a column label. To select one or more columns.
Using the mouse to select cells:
To select a single cell – merely click on it to make it the active cell.
The easiest method to select a range of cells:
• Move the mouse-pointer to the top-left cell.
• Hold down the left mouse button and drag over the required cells to highlight them – click-and-
drag.
• Once you have selected the cells needed, release the mouse button. Do NOT release your
mouse button until all the cells are selected.
Reminder: If your selection is incorrect, release the mouse button and click in another cell outside of
the selection to deselect it and re-do the selection.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 2
Tips:
• Pay attention to the techniques you learn in Exercise 2.2 – you will use them over and over
again, whenever you work on a MS Excel workbook.
• Some text in the instructions is in italics to make it stand out. Do NOT format any text to
italics unless it is specified in the instructions.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 2
are to type in a formula – all you need to know is WHERE the values are or will be located –
i.e. the cell addresses.
• In cell E11, type = – to tell MS Excel that this is a formula that needs to be resolved and
the result displayed
• Click on cell B11 – where the number of buffalo will be
• Type * – the operator for multiply
• Click on cell C2 – where the retail price will be
• Press Enter
Your formula should read =B11*C2 – select cell E11 where the result (currently 0) is and
look in the Formula Bar to see the formula in the cell.
12. Save the document using the same filename L02Stock-studentnumber.xlsx and keep it
open as you will be using it again in Exercise 2.3
• With the centre area selected, click the Paste tool in the Clipboard group on the Home
tab ribbon – the title text is now displayed in the Header
• Use your mouse to roll down to the Footer and click in the left area, enter your name,
surname and student number and click anywhere in the main grid
16. Enter cell content that will be same for all customers:
Information that is the same for all the transaction in the Detail area, is entered in the
Common area of the Animals worksheet at the top of the worksheet – the Common area in
this example is in the range A1:D7
• In cells B2:B4: Enter the Costs of breeding each type of animal in cells
• In cells B6:B7: Enter the %s for Markup (0.75) and Discount (0.15) – note that a %
value is the same as the number divided by 100, which is the same as the result of the
divide – e.g. 4% is the same as saying 4/100, which is 0.04
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 2
• In cell C2: Enter the formula to calculate the Retail Price – the Markup % reflects how
much profit one would like to make on a sale, so the Markup amount needs to be added
to the Cost Price, in order to determine the Retail Price – =B2+B2*B6
Do NOT enter anything in cells C3:C4 at this point.
• In cells A11:D11: Enter test data to check formulas that will be entered later:
• Edit the labels in B1 & C1 to add the word Price to each label and change the label
Numbers to Stock Sales – check how to do this in the explanations above this exercise
17. Save the document using the same filename L02Stock-studentnumber.xlsx and keep it
open as you will be using it again in Exercise 2.4
In order to explain when and where to use these different types of cell addressing in expressions, the
skills of copying and moving are used. Why? Understanding these concepts will make entering
repeated expressions easier and enable you to make valid adjustments in your worksheet if you realise
you’ve put something in the wrong place.
Copy with Relative Cell Addressing
You might want to use the text or expression in a specific cell in another cell as well. Rather than
retyping it, you can copy that label or expression to the appropriate cell. In most spreadsheets you will
use, you need to perform the same calculation on different sets of data, so you want to copy an
expression to a number of different cells.
Remember that when using copy, the data (label or expression) will appear in both the original and
destination cells.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 2
ii) You did not change columns, so the column letters have not changed – if you copied
to the right or left, the column letter would also change by 1 per column that the
destination cell is relative to the source cell
iii) Notice that the active cell or range that is copied is indicated by a broken-line cell
selector instead of a solid line, indicating that the copy is still active
• Select the range E13:E15 and Paste again – in each row the row numbers in the cell
addresses add the same number of rows Relative to the original position; 2 rows away
– add 2; 3 rows away – add 3, etc.
21. Save the workbook as L02Stock-studentnumber.xlsx and keep it open as you will be
using it again in Exercise 2.5
Tip – Rule for Copying:
Relative cell addresses change relative to the original position when an expression is copied. If
you copy up or down, - or + the row number; if you copy left or right, - or + the column letter.
Note: Cell references added for expressions are Relative Cell Addresses by default.
22. Return to the L02Stock-studentnumber.xlsx, saved at the end of Exercise 2.3 and
activate the Animals worksheet, in Formula view
23. To use Absolute Cell Addressing in a Formula
Edit the formula in E11, to convert the C2 cell address to an absolute cell address.
• In cell E11: Add the $ character in front of the column letter and row number of the C2
address in the formula by selecting the cell and clicking on the C2 address in the
Formula Bar, then press the F4 key and press Enter
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 2
together to get the Amt before Discount – see if you can figure it out and remember to click
on the cell references while you are editing your formula, to prevent typing errors.
25. Save the workbook as L02Stock-studentnumber.xlsx and keep it open as you will be
using it again in Exercise 2.6
Note that all your customers will usually pay the same price for your items, so the retail price, even
though it is a calculation, is the same for all and therefore a Common Area type item in your design.
26. Return to the L02Stock-studentnumber.xlsx, saved at the end of Exercise 2.3 and
activate the Animals worksheet, in Formula view
27. To use a % in a calculation
Calculate the Retail Prices for Buffalo, Impala & Elephants
• In cell C2: Use the formula = Cost + Cost * Mark-up% by replacing the words with cell
addresses (and exclude the spaces)
In another task, you want to Copy the same formula to cells C3:C4 so think about
which cell address should be Relative and which cell address should be Absolute – the
result in C2 should be 1811.25
28. To Fill a Series of Cells:
There is a quicker way to copy the content of a cell to adjacent cells, using the Fill Series
function.
• Click on cell C2 to make it active
• Click-and-drag the little square block in the bottom-right corner of the cell selector,
down to cell C4 – if your formula was set up correctly, the values should be 1748.25
and 9236.5 respectively
29. Return to Formula View and complete the calculations:
Remember to use Absolute cell addressing for information from the Common Area
• In cell F11: Enter the formula to calculate 15% discount on the Amount before Discount
• Edit the formula in F11 to only provide a discount amount if the total number of animals
purchases is more than 10: =IF(B11+C11+D11>$D$7,E11*$B$7,0) – if the total number
of animals purchased is > 10, then calculate the discount amount, but if not, the
discount amount is nothing – zero
• In cell G11: Enter the formula to calculate the final amount due for each transaction –
think about whether you need to add the Discount Amount to the Amount before
Discount or subtract it … should the Amount Due be more or less than the Amount
before Discount?
• Select the cells F11:G11 and fill the series down to cells F15:G15
Check the image below to compare with your workbook in Image View.
30. Save the workbook as L02Stock-studentnumber.xlsx and keep it open as you will be
using it again in Exercise 2.7
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 2
Now you need to pay close attention to what has actually happened:
The cell addresses in the formulas you moved, remained exactly the same as before
(see E2:E4), whether relative or absolute cell addressing was used, BUT…
The cell addresses in the formulas that used the original cell addresses of Retail
Prices have changed to the destination cell addresses of the cells you moved (see
E11:E15)
33. Save the workbook as L02Stock-studentnumber.xlsx and keep it open as you will be
using it again in Exercise 2.8
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 2
Page 26 of 99
FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
To make your worksheets look professional you need to format headings to stand out from ordinary
text and make the numbers look like the type of number they represent – e.g. % or money (R). This is
mainly accomplished by using tools on the Home tab ribbon.
Column widths need to be wide (or narrow) enough to read the full content of the cells and for long
headings (labels), text can be wrapped in the cell to reduce the width, but still see the full content. Cells
can be merged and borders drawn around cells to make the information easier to read.
In addition, to make your life a lot easier, there are many built-in formulas in MS Excel, called functions
(fx) – you have already used the SUM() and IF() functions in Lesson 2. Learning how to use them will
make your work easier and the workbooks more efficient.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
B. Format Numbers
You have already learned about making sure that the Date in your Documentation sheets are set to
the default Date number format. Learn more Date number formats and how to make the other numbers
in your worksheet represent the type of number they are.
• Select the dd Month yyyy format and click OK – the date now
shows something similar to the example on the right
Move to the Animals worksheet for the remained of the tasks in this exercise.
7. To align the content of cells:
• Select cell D7
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
• Click on the Centre-align tool in the Alignment group on the Home tab ribbon
Note that the number format for this number is General – it is useful to remember this, in
case you need to reset a number that you have incorrectly formatted.
8. Centre-align the content of cells B6:B7 and B10:D15 – remember that you can select both
ranges at the same time, by using the Ctrl+Click shortcut
9. To format percentage numbers:
• Change the % value in cell B6 to 75.5% - i.e. 0.755
• Select the cells in the Common area that contain percentage values (B6:B7)
• Click on the % tool in the Number group on the Home tab ribbon
The default formatting when you use this tool, is to provide no decimal places – so the
Markup% has been rounded to 76%
• To increase (or decrease) the number of decimal places in the Image View
o Select the Markup % value – i.e. cell B6
o Click TWICE on the Increase Decimal tool in the Number group on the Home tab
ribbon – the value now shows as 75.50%, which is showing one decimal place too
many
o Click ONCE on the Decrease Decimal tool (to the right of the Increase Decimal tool)
– the value now shows as 75.5%
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
Format Painter
Format Painter is a tool that allows you to copy all formatting from one formatted cell
and apply it to another cell or range of cells – a very handy tool to repeat the application
of the same format-settings to multiple places in your workbook.
You will find the relevant tool in the Clipboard group on the Home tab ribbon.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
C. Calculations
As explained in Lesson 1, you NEVER do any calculations yourself, so put your calculators away – you
always get the system to perform these calculations for you! Your task is to enter the numeric
expression that will provide the result you are looking for.
Note that you will not be covering all these skills in this module, only Basics to MIN & Max, IF
statements, Function Wizard & Formula Errors – all of which are also covered in your module
material.
Notes:
Just as we use parentheses (brackets) to show the order in which to calculate figures with paper
and pencil, spreadsheet calculations use them the same way – to change the order of precedence
of the calculation of mathematical operators.
The order of precedence is not exactly as the BODMAS (or BEDMAS) acronym indicates – e.g.
Divide does not always happen before Multiply or Add before Subtract. Divide & Multiply are on the
same level of precedence and are calculated from left to right in your formula. Add & Subtract work
the same way – the order of precedence is from left to right.
Make sure you understand the rules of precedence.
1st () Parenthesis – () not [] B
2nd ^ Exponentiation (to the power Of) O (E)
3rd */ Division, Multiplication (from left to right) DM
4th +- Addition, Subtraction (from left to right) AS
Do NOT add random, unnecessary brackets in your formulas – think about the order of precedence
and ONLY add them if necessary: e.g.:
=B2+B2*B3 does NOT need brackets around B2*B3 as the multiply will happen first anyway
=B2*(1+B3) only needs brackets if the 1+B3 must happen BEFORE the multiply
=B11*$D$2+C11*$D$3+D11*$D$4 does NOT need brackets if each multiply must happen first and
then those 3 (multiply) results must be added together
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
Example: Using the above precedence rules (BODMAS) the order in which the following formula is
calculated is illustrated below, with a step in each line:
=24+(9+3)/2*3^(5-3)-5
=24+ 12 /2*3^ 2 -5
=24+ 12 /2* 9 -5
=24+ 6 * 9 -5
=24+ 54 -5
= 78 -5
=73
You will never be given such a complex calculation in this course, but if you understand the principle
involved, you will not mess up the simpler calculations that you are required to do.
Calculations using Built-In Functions
A Function is a built-in formula that uses specific values provided in a specific order (called parameters
or arguments) to calculate a result. These should be used instead of entering (and remembering) long
or complex formulas yourself. A function enables you to perform complex tasks quickly and reliably,
without having to worry about the details of the formula itself. For example:
You wish to add the list of numbers in cells A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3
The formula would be =A1+A2+A3+B1+B2+B3+C1+C2+C3
Imagine you wish to calculate the sum of (add together) about 50 cells. The formula would be very
long and prone to human error in typing.
It would be better to make use of a function, for example:
Using a list (non-adjacent cells): =SUM(A1,A3,B2,C1,C3)
Note: the parameters in the list are separated by commas, with no spaces between the parameters
Using a range (adjacent cells):=SUM(A1:C3)
Note: can only be used when the cells form a block of adjacent cells
When using a function, you must always state the name of the function you wish to use and then in
brackets, you supply the required parameters (or argument) for that function name. A parameter is a
piece of information, which the function needs in order to calculate what you need.
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Notes:
When there is more than one required parameter, you must place them in a specific order;
otherwise the function may not provide the expected result.
ALWAYS start any calculation with =, whether you are using cells & mathematical operators or
only a function – an = in the middle of an expression indicates a LOGICAL operator – e.g. asking
the question: is B2=C2.
When the required parameter is list, this means that you need at least one (usually a range), but could
have any number of parameters. The parameter could be a number, a cell reference, a range of cells,
a formula or a function. The result of the function would only be calculated once the results of the
individual parameters have been calculated using the order of
precedence.
Try the tool on the MS Excel toolbar selecting the All
category – this provides the list of available functions,
describes what they do and assists you with the required
parameters.
If you type =, then the function name followed by an opening
bracket ( in a cell and then click on, the Function
Arguments dialog-box will open with the details of that
function – e.g. type =if( into a cell, click on fx and see what
happens.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
Note that because the Format Painter was used in the Animals sheet – all the money-
amount cells there are shaded green and therefore, because you again used the Format
Painter, the money-amount cells on the Report sheet will also be shaded green.
21. Use 3-D referencing and the given functions, to add the summary calculations on the
Report sheet in cells B9:B11 – refer to Appendix A for explanations about the ONLY
functions you may use in this module):
• In cell B9 you want to know how many transactions you have in the Detail area on the
Animals worksheet
There are 2 things to consider here, in terms of what range of cells to count:
You ALWAYS need to count the cells in a range where original data is, not a range
that contains formulas that have been filled down for a certain number of rows.
Because some of the numbers may be blank for certain clients, you cannot use the
ranges in column B, C or D
Therefore, you need to count the cells with Names in the Animals sheet.
The function you would use is COUNTA(list):
o In cell B9, type =COUNTA(
o Click on the Animals sheet tab and select the range A11:A15 (all the rows you
have formulas in)
o Type a closing bracket ) and press Enter
Note how MS Excel has automatically added the sheet name to the range cell
addresses. The result in cell B9 should be 3
• To use the fx tool to insert a calculation using a Function:
You want to calculate the Average Number of Elephants purchased in cell B10.
o Click on cell B10 and type =average( – note that it is not necessary to type the
function name in capital (uppercase) letters – MS Excel will automatically
convert lowercase letters to uppercase when you press Enter
o Click on the fx tool next to the Formula Bar
o With the Function Arguments dialog-box open, click on the Animals sheet tab
and select the range of cells containing the number of elephants purchased –
i.e. D11:D15 – if the dialog-box pops-up on top of the content of the Animals
sheet, drag-and-drop the dialog-box by clicking anywhere (but better to get used
to using the Title Bar of the dialog-box as this is the only place you can move
many other windows) and moving the dialog-box out of the way
o Click on OK and then reduce the number of decimal places shown to 2 places
Using this method, it is not necessary for you to type the closing bracket.
• To use the fx tool to find a Function to use:
You want to know what is the highest single sale you made, by checking the full range of
final Amounts Due on the Animals Sheet
o Select cell B11 and then click on the fx tool
o Change the category to Most Recently Used and look through the list of
functions provided, using the scrollbar on the right
o Select the function you decide to do and provide the necessary range from the
Animals sheet
o Click OK
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
If you used the appropriate function, your result should be R65 446.06
Check the image of the Report sheet below to compare with your Report sheet.
22. Save the document using the same filename L03WildSales-studentnumber.xlsx and
keep it open as you will be using it again in Exercise 3.5
D. Sorting Data
When you have a number of instances of similar data – for example: 100 responses to a questionnaire
– it could be useful to sort the data in order to make more sense of it.
Sorting a Block
Before selecting the Sort tool from the Data tab ribbon, you need to highlight the cells you want to sort.
For example, on the Animals worksheet, if you want to sort the Names in ascending order, then you
need to select the entire row for all the rows in your Detail area – i.e. rows 11:15.
WARNING! If you only select the Names range, you could run into trouble as you are likely to then
ONLY sort the names and leave the data relating to the particular names, where they are, instead of
moving each transaction’s information with the related name.
If you select a range of cells, that has data on either side of it, you will probably get the following
warning:
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You should always select the 1st option otherwise the other information, related to each instance of
the data you want to sort, will not accompany it and you will have false information on your worksheet.
It is much better to select the set of entire rows that contain the information you want sorted, that way
you cannot inadvertently mess up your rows of data. To select an entire row, click on the row number
(grey area).
Once you have clicked on the Sort… button, you will get the Sort dialog-box where you can specify
what field(s) you want to Sort by and in which Order – ascending (A to Z) or descending (Z to A). Note
that if the range content is numeric, the Order choices become ascending (smallest to largest) or
descending (largest to smallest).
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
If you have selected the entire row for the range, the row numbers change colour.
• Click on the Sort tool in the Sort & Filter group on the Data tab ribbon
• Make sure that My data has headers is checked, then use the drop-down Sort by
menu to select the Amt Due field
• There is no need to change he Order field as it is Smallest to Largest, in ascending
order, by default
• Click OK
Note that the order of transactions has changed on your Animals sheet and automatically,
because of the 3-D Referencing, on your Report sheet as well.
25. To Sort rows of information using a range of text, withOUT a header row:
Sort the Detail area rows by the Names, in descending order.
• Select rows 11:15
• Click on the Sort tool in the Sort & Filter group on the Data tab ribbon
• Make sure that My data has headers is UNchecked, then use the drop-down Sort by
menu to select Column A
• Use the drop-down arrow in the Order box to select Z-A to in Descending order
• Click OK
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
E. Handling Errors
Part of being computer literate (not passing the course but actually being able to use the computer!) is
that you can fix problems you may have when you are working on the computer. Here are some of the
problems you may encounter in spreadsheets.
Undo Tool
If you enter something into a cell and the result is not what you expected, remember to use the Undo
tool on the Quick Access Toolbar. This will UNDO the last task and return your worksheet to what it
looked like before you did it. The Undo tool also has a down-arrow, which show a list of the
most recent tasks you have done. If you have made a complete mess, you can Undo more than one
task by selecting the task from the list where things started to go wrong.
Circular Reference
When an expression refers back to its own cell, either directly or indirectly, it is called a circular
reference. A small blue diamond appears in the cell(s) with a circular reference. A message appears
in the Status area at the bottom-left of your MS Excel window, telling you exactly which cell the circular
reference may be found.
If your workbook was saved with a circular reference, you will get a warning message when you open
the file:
Make sure that you never leave these in place; you need to check your formulas in the particular cell
address and the formulas in the cells you are referencing to find the own cell reference and then
eliminate it.
########## / Adjusting Column Width
If you type in an expression and the result is a row of hashes – ###### – all this means is that your
column is not wide enough. All you need to do is point your mouse to the right border of the column
label containing the #s so that your mouse pointer changes from the usual arrow to and double-
click (keep your mouse steady when you do this). MS-Excel will automatically make the adjustment
for you.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 3
#Value! / #Name?
If you get one of the above messages as a result of an expression, it means that you have referenced
something incorrectly – either referenced a cell that contains alphanumeric characters or spelt a
function name incorrectly.
#Div/0!
When you enter the design of your worksheet (implement) in MS Excel, you need to enter all the labels
and calculations, but you do not necessarily have any data yet. This may cause the above error
message, which means that you are trying to divide a number by zero – something you cannot
mathematically do – e.g. you may have used the AVERAGE(list) function correctly, but the error occurs
because there is no data in the list of cells. Check your expression with test data to see if the result is
what you would expect or if there is genuinely something wrong with your expression.
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• Review the formula in cell D10 – the formula looks fine, but MS Excel cannot perform
the calculation
• Look at the content of the cells addresses used in the calculation – do they contain
numbers or text?
• Change the text content of the cell to the number 10 to fix this error
A trick to determine if something that may look like a number, IS actually a number:
widen the column and see if the number is left-aligned or right-aligned – MS Excel
automatically left-aligns text by default and automatically right-aligns numbers by
default. So if your seeming number is left-aligned, MS Excel sees the number as text.
To fix this, change the number format to General and if that does not help, then delete
the cell content, set the number format to General again and re-type the number. This
often happens when students enter the decimal comma instead of the decimal point.
8. Use the shortcut that you learned above, to select the sheet and automatically have MS
Excel sort out the column-width problem for you.
9. Save the workbook as L03Errors-studentnumber.xlsx and CLOSE the workbook
10. Upload your solution to the SMark project FCS Excel Lesson 3.6 and CHECK the feedback
report, to ensure that you completed this set of exercises 100% correctly – if not:
i. Return to the relevant concept explanations to improve your understanding
ii. Check that you have followed the relevant Exercise instruction exactly
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
When you click on the Header & Footer tool, a contextual Design tab ribbon becomes available.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
• Select the right area and type your module code (e.g. WRFV101 – no spaces before,
in the middle or after) – notice that module code is automatically right-aligned
• To insert the Title of the workbook in the header of other sheets:
Note that this is a design issue – placing the exact title from the Documentation sheet,
in the Header of all the OTHER sheets and your name & student number in the Footer
– where you put them is usually not specified, which means that you can put it in
wherever you like, but if the task is specific in terms of location, then please follow that
instruction.
Click on the Sheet1 tab and copy the title from cell B1
Click on the Sheet2 tab – you should still be able to see the Header blocks at the
top of the sheet; but if not, redo the process to show this area
Click on the centre-area of the Header and then use the Paste tool in the
Clipboard group on the Home tab ribbon to paste the title in your Header – the title
text is now displayed in the centre of your Header, centred in the centre area
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
Click on the Sheet3 tab and repeat the Paste process, then do the same for
Sheet4 – you can ignore the Sheet5 & Background worksheets for now
4. To move quickly between the Header and the Footer in a worksheet:
• Go to Sheet2 and, if you have deselected the Header, click anywhere in
the Header area
• Click on the Go to Footer tool in the Navigation group on the contextual
Design tab ribbon to quickly move to the Footer of a worksheet
If you are in the Footer and you want to return to the Header, click on the Go to Header
tool in the same group. Alternatively, you can page up and down using a variety of tools,
but the quickest way to move between the Header and Footer areas is to use these
Navigation group tools.
5. To insert Text in a Footer:
In your design solutions, you need to remember to put your name and student number in
the Footer of all the OTHER sheets – this information is already in row 5 of the
Documentation sheet, so it is not necessary to repeat this information in the Header or
Footer of this sheet.
• Click in the left-area of the footer and type your Name, Surname & student number
• Click anywhere in the grid to de-select the Footer
• Repeat this for Sheet3 and Sheet4
6. You need to return to Normal view for each sheet (Workbook Views group on the
View tab ribbon), once you have finished inserting your Headers and Footers, to make
it easier to refer to column and row labels.
7. Save the workbook using the same filename L04Aphiwe-studentnumber.xlsx and
keep it open as you will be using it again in Exercise 4.2
B. Renaming Worksheets
In Exercise 2.8, task 35, you renamed a worksheet that had the default name of Sheet1 to Report, by
clicking on the Sheet Name tab and typing Report.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
• Double-click on the name Sheet1 (the name is selected) and type Documentation –
note that you do not need to delete the selection first, it automatically gets deleted as
soon as you start typing
• Click anywhere in the grid to deselect the sheet name tab or press Enter
• Rename the other sheets as follows:
Sheet2 becomes Flowers – as indicated on the Documentation sheet
Sheet3 becomes Extras
Sheet4 becomes Report
Ignore Sheet5 & Background worksheets for now.
3. Save the document using the same filename L04Aphiwe-studentnumber.xlsx and keep
it open as you will be using it again in Exercise 4.3
To see the sheet tabs to the left or right, click on the left or right arrow keys on the left of the list.
• In THIS exercise, you want the sheet to remain hidden, so click Cancel – but if you did
want to unhide the sheet, in the Unhide dialog-box, click on the sheet name of the
worksheet that you want to unhide and click OK
14. Save the document using the same filename L04Aphiwe-studentnumber.xlsx and keep
it open as you will be using it again in Exercise 4.4
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
D. Arranging Worksheets
When you want to insert a worksheet, always click on the sheet tab that should be before the new
worksheet that you want to insert. But if you forget and add a new sheet in the wrong position, you can
always move it to a new position in the list of sheets at the bottom of the grid. Sometimes, if you need
to create a similar sheet to an existing sheet – e.g. you create a sheet for January, then instead of
creating the other months’ sheets from scratch, you copy the January sheet over and over (11 times)
and then rename edit each copy to indicate the other 11 months of the year. If you have too many
sheets in your workbook, you can always delete it – but note that once it is deleted, you cannot UNDO
that task – it is permanently deleted.
• Select the Worksheet option in the pop-up dialog-box and then click on OK – a new
worksheet appears between the Added and Sheet5 worksheets
• Rename this worksheet Inserted
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
• Move your mouse-pointer to the sheet tab name you want to move – Sheet5 – hold the
left mouse button down – a move indicator will appear above the top-left corner of the
sheet tab
• Drag the move indicator to the left, until it is between the 2 sheets that you want to
move the sheet to, as shown above, and then release your left-mouse button
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
Margins
Margins are the blank spaces that edge the top, bottom, and left and right sides of a worksheet. The
margin settings are on the Page Layout tab ribbon in the Page Setup group.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
Note: The margin settings for this worksheet, Top & Bottom are set at 0.75” (1.9cm),
Left and Right are set at 0.7” (1.8cm) and the Header & Footer are set at 0.3” (0.8cm).
• Change the Top margin to 1.5” (3.81cm) by clicking the up-arrow until it is
on 1.5” or typing the measurement in the text-box
The top margin has increases substantially from the norm, if you look at the Page
Layout view.
• Click OK
3. Click on both check-boxes to centre this worksheet both ways on the page – a useful
setting, is to centre the worksheet content on a page – Horizontally, Vertically or both
Check what this looks like in the next exercise
4. Save the document using the same filename L04Vehicles-studentnumber.xlsx and keep
it open as you will be using it again in Exercise 4.6
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
Print Preview
You can check what your Print settings will look like on the page WITHOUT actually printing the
worksheet – save the trees!
Some print settings have already been set in this sheet – 1) to print with landscape
orientation and 2) the content is horizontally & vertically centre-aligned on page 3 of the
Print Preview
7. Click on the Back button to return to your worksheet
8. Save the document using the same filename L04Vehicles-studentnumber.xlsx and keep
it open as you will be using it again in Exercise 4.7
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
Page Orientation
Page Orientation refers to the direction in which a worksheet is printed on the paper. It has two types;
Portrait (vertical) and Landscape (horizontal).
The settings for Orientation are on the Page Layout tab ribbon in the Page Setup group.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
(1) (3)
(2) (4)
This does not look very good yet and you would have to stick printed together with tape to allow the
reader to make sense of them – learn about more settings, to get this worksheet to print better.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
Paper Size
The standard paper size in South Africa is A4, which measures 8.27”x11.69”. The
default paper size in your installation of MS Excel is probably Letter 8.5”x11” or
A4 as indicated above. But there are a number of options for Paper Size to use,
depending on what you are trying to achieve.
To see more sizes, click on More Paper Sizes… at the bottom of the dropdown
menu.
An alternative method to change the paper Size is in the Print settings on the File
tab menu – click on the down-arrow to see a similar list of options.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
Page Breaks
When content fills a page, MS Excel automatically creates a new page – if your content is too wide to
fit on one page, MS Excel will print all the pages with the left content and then the next pages on the
right, etc.
Often these page breaks are in awkward positions. But you can make it better in a number of ways:
You can insert a page break manually at any point in a worksheet by clicking on
the Insert tab and clicking on the Break tool in the Page Setup group.
Page Break Preview from the View tab ribbon, as shown above, will show you
what cells will be printed on each page – you can change this by dragging the
broken-lines up / down or left/right. Note that this will also change the size of the
content, as it may need to be made smaller or bigger to fit the way you want it to.
Scaling using the Page Setup dialog-box by adjusting the zoom to a % of normal size or fitting
the content to a certain number of pages wide and tall – note that you can also use this dialog-
box to set many other settings on the different tabs.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
Check the Print Preview – only a couple of rows are printed on page 3 which is a waste
of a whole page
19. To Move a Page Break:
• Activate Page Break View in the Worksheet Views group on the View tab ribbon
• Drag-and-drop the page break at the end of Page 1 down 1 row – note how Page 3 has
disappeared as both page lengths changed
20. Save the worksheet using the same filename L04Vehicles-studentnumber.xlsx and keep
it open as you will be using it again in Exercise 4.10
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
• Click on the Print Preview button to check the effects of your selections and view both
pages – note that the headings are repeated
• The row and columns headings are really not needed – deselect this option on the Sheet
tab of the Page Setup dialog box
3. To Set the Print area:
This can be set using the Print Setup dialog box or the Print Area tool in the Page Setup
group on the Page Layout tab ribbon – select to print only the range A2:F30 with heading
labels.
• The headings have already been set as Title rows, so only select the range A2:F30
• Click on Set Print Area in the drop-down menu of the Print Area tool in the Page Setup
group on the Page Layout tab ribbon
• You are not printing all the columns anymore, so you
can re-set the Orientation to Portrait
Check the Print Preview again – your single page
to be printed
4. Save the worksheet as L04Vehicles-
studentnumber.xlsx and CLOSE the worksheet –
remember that you can use the Save icon from the
Quick Access toolbar OR the Save option in the File
tab menu
5. Upload your solution to the SMark project FCS Excel
Project 4.5 and CHECK the feedback report, to ensure
that you completed this set of exercises 100% correctly
– if not:
i. Return to the relevant concept explanations to
improve your understanding
ii. Check that you have followed the relevant Exercise
instruction exactly
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
F. Printing
To help you save your printing quota – DO NOT actually print anything in THIS LESSON, only learn
how to set it up so that you know what to do when you have to print something.
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 4
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 5
5. Creating Charts
In reports (assignments), it is easier for the reader see the point you are trying to make in reference to
data collected, if that data is organised into a picture – i.e. a graphical representation of numeric data
created using the chart tools in MS Excel.
There are many different types of charts – you choose the type of chart to use, depending on the type
of data you have and what point you are trying to make by showing numeric data in chart form.
In this Lesson you will learn to:
• Build charts
• Add design elements to charts
• Modify charts
Only four main types of charts are used in this course – however you can use the skills you learn here,
to build any of the other types of charts in MS Excel or indeed, a combination of chart types in one
image, depending on the data you have collected for reports to submit in other modules or your
workplace.
Type Description Use Data Example
Column Vertical bars, using different Comparison of Categories on
colours for different data sets with values horizontal axis and
short category labels values on vertical axis
Pie Circular pie, showing slices of the Shows data as Data that adds up to
pie in different colours for different a % portion of 100% of a single
data items the whole category
Doughnut Circular band, showing sections in Shows data as Data that adds up to
(type of different colours for different data a % portion of 100% of a single
Pie) items the whole category
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 5
A. Building Charts
Planning your chart, as with any other task, is important:
1. Select the data, with related labels, that you want to illustrate graphically.
2. Identify the type of chart that would be most appropriate to use.
3. Decide what labels you want to use for the title, X-axis, Y-axis and legend*– note that usually,
one only uses a legend if you use more than one set of data
4. Where you will place your chart – same worksheet as the data or in its own separate sheet
5. What chart elements will you include to enhance the readability of the information represented
* A Legend is a key to identify which colour in the chart, represents which category
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 5
Notice how you can change the message of the chart, using exactly the same data,
merely by switching the row/column arrangement.
7. To change the location of a chart:
MS Excel places new charts within the worksheet containing the data by default.
You do not want the chart to clutter your data, so you want to move the chart to its
own sheet.
• Select the chart and click on the Move Chart Location tool in the Data group on
the contextual Design tab ribbon
• In the Move Chart dialog-box, click on New sheet:, type the name Column in the text-
box and click OK
• Move the Column chart-sheet to after the Quarterly worksheet
8. Using the data on the Quarterly worksheet:
• Create a Line with Markers chart showing the sales of the JHB and PTA over the 4
quarters (A1:E3) – use a similar method to the above, by clicking on the Insert Line or
Area Chart tool in the Charts group on the Insert tab ribbon
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 5
• To move the chart to the cells B10:F22 – so that it does not obscure any data
Drag-and-drop the image so that the top-left corner of the chart is just inside the top-
left lines of the cell B10
Drag-and-drop the bottom-right size-handle to just inside the bottom-right lines of
the cell F22
Warning: When you need to re-size a chart and position it within a specific range of
cells, do NOT attempt to place the corners of the chart up against the corners of the
cells – it is too easy to just tip it over the edge into an adjacent cell and SMark will then
mark the position as incorrect.
9. To create a chart using non-adjacent ranges:
Create a doughnut pie chart, in its own sheet named Doughnut, of the total branch sales
for all the branches.
• Select the label range for the branches on the Quarterly worksheet (A1:A7)
• Hold the Ctrl key down while you select the range for branch totals (F1:F7) and then let
go the Ctrl key – note this is how you were taught to select non-adjacent cells in a
previous lesson
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 5
• Once you have clicked on the Doughnut option, click OK to create the chart
• Move the chart to its own chart-sheet named Doughnut and move this sheet between
the Quarterly and Column sheets
11. Save the document using the same filename L05Sales-studentnumber.xlsx and keep it
open as you will be using it again in Exercise 5.2
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 5
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 5
• To add Gridlines:
Gridlines make it easier for the reader to map the entry to the Y-axis values – the chart
already has Primary Major Horizontal gridlines – we will add Primary Minor Horizontal
gridlines.
Select the chart and point to the Gridlines option on the Add Chart Element tool on
the Design tab ribbon
Click on the Primary Minor Horizontal gridlines option
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FCS Excel (Basics) Lesson 5
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FCS Excel (Basics) Projects
Projects
Notes:
1. Check your module’s weekly Guides to find out which Projects you are required to do AND the
file specifications of documents for saving or opening.
2. If you have problems in SMark – check the tips in Appendix A
Project 1. Formulas
Lessons 1 - 2
1. Select to attempt FCS Excel Project 01 Formulas in SMark and, if provided, enter the
password provided in your weekly Guide.
2. Download the data file from the system and save it in the location specified in the weekly
Guide
P01Formulas-studentnumber.xlsx
3. Open the file you saved in 2 above, in MS Excel from the location specified in the weekly Guide.
4. Complete the Documentation sheet with the date (B3), your name and surname (B5) and your
student number (C5)
5. Use the title on the Documentation sheet as a centred Header on the Sheet1 sheet and put
your name, surname and student number, left-aligned in the Footer
6. For each of the calculations given below – use the cells in Sheet1 to create a formula to
calculate the answer in the relevant cell (use cell reference in the formulas, do not type the
actual numbers).
Formula
No Cell Calculation
1 B12 Divide 800 by 6, then add 12.
2 B13 Subtract 6 from 54, and divide the answer by 7.
3 B14 Add 7 to the result of 3 multiplied by 54.
4 B15 3 Multiplied by 63.
Raise the result of 12 multiplied by 40 to the power of 3,
5 B16
then divide the result by the result of 6 added to 7.
7. Format the answers in cells B12 to B16 as numbers displaying 2 decimal places
8. Apply bold formatting to the text in cells A11 and B11
9. Rename Sheet1 to Practice. Do not change the order of the sheets.
10. Check your solution against the image in Normal view (i.e. without header and footer),
provided below.
11. Save the final version of your file (in the location specified in the weekly Guide) and check the
date & time in File Explorer to make sure that you save your latest version.
12. Close the file and return to the SMARK system to upload the file from the location specified
in your weekly Guide, for online checking (remove any version number in the filename) and
view the Feedback Report.
Do NOT waste attempts by submitting the same solution (no changes) and expect a different
result!
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Project 2. Runners
Lessons 1 – 3
1. Select to attempt FCS Excel Project 02 Runners in SMark and, if provided, enter the
password provided in your weekly Guide.
2. Download the data file from the system and save it in the location specified in the weekly
Guide
P02Runners-studentnumber.xlsx
3. Open the file you saved in 2 above, in MS Excel from the location specified in the weekly Guide.
Documentation Sheet & Headers/Footers:
4. Format the Title in B1 as follows:
• Font type Bodoni MT Black size 16pt
• Bold and underline
• Change the font colour to Standard Colour: Green
5. Type the date in B3 and your first-name & surname in cell B5 and your student number in cell
C5. Tip: drag-and-drop the column-widths if necessary (don’t use the alternative tip from Project
8-1 due to the long text in some of the cells in these two columns).
6. Change the Purpose in cell B7 to italics and the labels in cells A3:A9 to bold.
7. Copy the Title from the Documentation sheet to the centre of the Headers of the Athletes and
Report sheets, and put your name, surname and student number in the left Footers of both
those sheets.
Athletes Sheet:
The net amount for each athlete’s the income form their sponsors and income from wining their
events at various meets, less their membership and training fees with the cub coaching staff. The
club gets a percentage (5.3%) of the net amount, but only if the net amount is more than R0.00.
Allow for 7 athletes, even though there is only test data for 4.
8. Hide columns K:R (all the skills covered in Lesson 3!).
9. Format the cells containing labels as follows:
• Bold the text in A1:A2 & A5:H5
• Wrap all long detail headings in C5:D5 and F5:H5
• Update the column-widths of the whole sheet with 2 clicks (see how in the lessons above)
• Align the labels in A5:H5 in the middle of the row
• Shade the labels in A5:H5 using Theme Colour: Green, Accent 6, Lighter 60%
10. Format the cells containing numbers (do not include the labels) as follows – remember that you
need to allow for SEVEN rows of athletes (no more & no less!):
• Centre the numbers under the label Personal Best
• Use the Percentage Number format for B1, showing 2 decimal places
• Use the Currency Number format for B2, showing 0 decimal places
• Use the Format Painter to repeat the formatting of B2 in all the detail cells that contain
(or will contain) money amounts
11. Use the quick access tool to add borders to your sheet (i.e. the weight/width of the line is pre-
set):
• A thick outside border to A1:B2 (the common area)
• Add all borders to the detail area
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Project 3. Seafood
Lessons 1-3
You run a seafood restaurant called The Seafood Galley, on an island in the Caribbean. You order
most of your seafood from Boston in the USA and you need to figure out how much you can afford to
order each week. You decide to create a spreadsheet to calculate the costs of ordering a number of
different types of shellfish.
Each type of shellfish has different quantities & prices per kilogram (KG) and you need to figure out the
number of KGs so that you can determine the cost, the freight cost (you have to fly the food from Boston
to the island) and the import duty, so that you can get the total costs per item, of an order. Freight
costs are R25 per KG and the Import Duty is 3.5% of the cost.
1. Select to attempt FCS Excel Project 03 Seafood in SMark and, if provided, enter the
password provided in your weekly Guide.
2. Download the data file from the system and save it in the location specified in the weekly
Guide
P03Seafood-studentnumber.xlsx
3. Open the file you saved in 2 above, in MS Excel from the location specified in the weekly Guide.
Workbook Info:
4. On the Documentation sheet, type the date in B3 and your first-name & surname in cell B5 and
your student number in cell C5
5. Think about what the purpose of this workbook could be and enter this (SHORT) in cell B7 on
the Documentation sheet
Orders Sheet:
6. Enter data as follows:
• In the common area:
The Freight amount per KG – R25 – formatted to currency with no decimal places
The Import Duty – 3.5% - formatted to percentage with 1 decimal place
Tip: Always enter the number only and then format it using the Number Formatting tools
on the Home tab ribbon.
• In the detail area (A4:C9):
Type Qty Qty per KG Price per KG
Oysters 240 12 84.75
Clams 30 8 78.00
Mussels 360 20 57.50
Scallops 48 10 89.99
Lobsters 20 0.75 102.00
7. Sort the rows to list the shellfish in alphabetical order by Type
8. Insert a row in order to add Prawns in the correct spot alphabetically and order 64 where the
number of prawns per KG is 18 and the price per KG is R64.00
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9. Format as follows:
• Bold all the labels in cells A1:A2 and A4:I4
• Underline all the labels in cells A4:I4
• Wrap the labels in cells E4, G4 & H4
• Middle-Align A4:I4 – this is NOT centring horizontally, but centring VERTICALLY
• Left align the content of cells B1:B2
• Centre-align B4:D10
• Format all the money amounts in the cells E5:I10 to Currency, with 2 decimal places –
tip: you do not yet have the calculations in your detail area, but you can still format all
the cells that will contain money
10. Enter formulas to calculate the following:
• D5: Calculate the number of Kg for the first item, to the nearest 100th of a kilogram (i.e.
2 decimal places) – thinking tip: if there are 8 clams per Kg, then how many 8s are there
in 30?
• F5: Calculate the cost for the item
• G5: Calculate the freight amount for the item, at a cost of R25 per Kg
• H5: Calculate the import duty as 3.5% of the cost
• I5: Calculate the total cost of the item – tip: if you are only adding 2 items, use +, but if
your are adding more than 2 adjacent numbers, use SUM
Fill the above formulas down for all the items. Remember to use absolute cell addressing for
all items from the common area at the top.
11. Fix the column-width of Column F, to show the actual values instead of ####
Report Sheet:
12. In cells A2:B2, extract the relevant data from the Shells sheet and fill down for the number of
items on the Orders sheet.
13. Enter the following summary calculations, using basic functions and all the rows of data:
• B9: determine the average freight costs
• B10: determine the total import duty
• B11: determine the total of the total cost
• B12: determine the highest cost (i.e. without freight & import duty)
• B13: determine the lowest total cost
14. Format all the summary results to currency, with 2 decimal places
Finalising your workbook:
15. Check your solution against the images provided below.
16. Save the final version of your file (in the location specified in the weekly Guide) and check the
date & time in File Explorer to make sure that you save your latest version.
17. Close the file and return to the SMARK system to upload the file from the location specified
in your weekly Guide, for online checking (remove any version number in the filename) and
view the Feedback Report.
Do NOT waste attempts by submitting the same solution (no changes) and expect a different
result!
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Project 4. Tours
Lessons 1-4
Scenario:
You run a small business taking touring groups from Gqeberha around the Eastern and Western Cape,
using a luxury 10-seater mini-bus. You have negotiated a fixed price per person for accommodation
of R360 per night, no matter where you go on the tour. Additional costs of R30 per night for self-
catering places and R95 per night for Bed & Breakfast (B&B). You are trying to promote South Africans
to take your tours, so you give tours with people from South Africa (SA) a 25% discount.
Allow for 10 touring groups.
1. Select to attempt FCS Excel Project 04 Tours in SMark and, if provided, enter the password
provided in your weekly Guide.
2. Download the data file from the system and save it in the location specified in the weekly
Guide
P04Tours-studentnumber.xlsx
3. Open the file you saved in 2 above, in MS Excel from the location specified in the weekly Guide.
Documentation Sheet & Headers/Footers:
4. Type the date in B3 and your first-name & surname in cell B5 and your student number in cell
C5.
5. Think about what the purpose of this workbook could be and enter this (SHORT) in cell B7
6. Format the Title and labels to bold – tip: worksheet NAMES are not labels.
7. Unhide columns H:M.
8. Select columns H:M and auto-set the column-widths for only those columns. This is a checklist
of skills you should have learned in Lesson 4. Check that you have learned how to do all
these tasks.
9. Copy the TEXT (not the formatting – i.e. copy from the Formula Bar and NOT the cell itself) of
the Title from the Documentation sheet to the centre of the Headers of the Summer and
Summer Report sheets, and put your name, surname and student number in the left Footers
of both those sheets.
Summer Sheet
10. Format various cells as follows:
• Bold the heading labels only – tips: NO other cells should be bold and include the cells
B2:B3 as they are also labels; remember to select one cell and then hold down the CTRL
key to select all the others you require, then click on bold on the Home tab ribbon.
• Format all the money amounts to Currency, with 2 decimal places – tip: you do not yet
have the calculations in your detail area, but you can still format all the cells that will
contain money – remember that you need to allow for 10 touring groups.
• Format the percentage value to show percentage to 1 decimal place.
• Centre the values under the headings Country, People, Nights and Catering – tip: NOT
the labels and remember to allows for 10 touring groups.
• Wrap the labels in G6:I6
• Select the whole sheet and auto-set the column-widths
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Winter sheet:
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Project 6. ClassMarks
Lessons 1-5
Scenario:
As a service module, Dept CS is required to provide a report for a large number of Industry Boards, on
the results of Computing Fundamentals modules. This report contains a large number of charts to
show various aspects of the results.
1. Select to attempt FCS Excel Project 06 ClassMarks in SMark and, if provided, enter the
password provided in your weekly Guide.
2. Download the data file from the system and save it in the location specified in the weekly
Guide:
P06ClassMarks-studentnumber.xlsx
3. Open the file you saved in 2 above, in MS Excel from the location specified in the weekly Guide.
Documentation Sheet & Headers/Footers:
4. Type the date in B3 and your first-name & surname in cell B5 and your student number in cell
C5.
5. Add the title of the workbook to the centred Header of the Marks & Summary sheets and your
name, surname and student number in the left Footer of the same sheets.
Marks Sheet:
NOTE: Do NOT use the Quick Layout tool when creating charts
6. Set the print area for the range A7:G27, so that only this section would get printed. Do NOT
Print! Use Print-Preview to check.
7. Sort the data in rows 8:27 in descending order of the Final Mark.
8. Create a Scatter chart using the columns of Lecture Attendance (B7:B27) and Final Mark
(F7:F27). Edit the chart as follows:
• Move the chart to its own sheet named Learning
• Change the Chart Title to
Lecture Attendance related to Results
• Add the Y-Axis Label of Percentage
• Add the X-Axis Label of Students
• Set the Legend to appear at the top of the chart
Tip: If you only get the BLUE dots and you have definitely selected both ranges, try recreating
the chart using A7:B27 & F7:F27.
9. Create a 3-D Clustered Bar chart on its own sheet named Final Results, using the columns of
Student # (A7:A27) for the left axis and Final Mark (F7:F27). Edit the chart as follows:
• Change the Chart Title to match the workbook title on the Documentation sheet.
• Change the colours to Colourful Palette 4
• Add Data Labels to the right of all the bars.
10. Create a 3-D Clustered Column Chart using the column of Student #s (A7:A27) for the bottom
axis and the columns of Class Work, Test 1 and Test 2 results (C7:E27). Edit the chart as
follows:
• Use the title of this workbook, from the Documentation sheet as the Chart Title –do not
use the cell reference from the documentation sheet, re-type the text.
• Add the Axis Title on the X-Axis of Students
• Set the Chart Style to Style 6.
• Use the appropriate tool to set the Legend to display at the bottom of the chart.
• Move and size the chart so that it fits & fills the H7:U27 – Tip just make sure that the
top-left and bottom-right corners are within the top-left and bottom-right cells of the
range.
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Summary Sheet:
11. Create a 3-D Pie Chart using the column of Tier Names (A2:A5) and the column of Tier Numbers
(B2:B5). Edit the chart as follows:
• Change the Chart Title to
CF Tiered Results
• Set the Chart Style to Style 7.
• Use the appropriate tool to set the Legend to display to the right of the chart.
• Move the chart’s top left corner to the top left corner of cell B10.
• Add Data Labels to the chart to show the numbers of each pie-slice – use the Outside
End style.
12. Move the sheets in your workbook to match the list on the Documentation sheet.
Finalising your Workbook:
13. Check your solution against the images provided below.
14. Save the final version of your file (in the location specified in the weekly Guide) and check the
date & time in File Explorer to make sure that you save your latest version.
15. Close the file and return to the SMARK system to upload the file from the location specified
in your weekly Guide, for online checking (remove any version number in the filename) and
view the Feedback Report.
Do NOT waste attempts by submitting the same solution (no changes) and expect a different
result!
120
100
80
Percentage
60
40
20
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Students
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CF Tiered Results
0
4
9 Extreme Fail
Fail
Pass
Distinction
7
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Project 7. Business
Lessons 1-5
You run a business to sell 2nd hand computers and accessories, to help fund your costs of studying at
NMU. You have developed such a large business, that you are obliged to collect 15% VAT on all sales.
However, you give any of your customers a Free Gift if they buy 10 or more items from you. You also
require a number of summary items to help you make business decisions.
Make provision for 7 customers.
1. Select to attempt FCS Excel Project 07 Business in SMark and, if provided, enter the
password provided in your weekly Guide.
2. Download the data file from the system and save it in the location specified in the weekly
Guide:
P07Business-studentnumber.xlsx
3. Open the file you saved in 2 above, in MS Excel from the location specified in the weekly Guide.
Workbook Info:
4. Add the date in B3, your name & surname in B5 and your student number in C5
5. Provide a purpose in B7 and sheet descriptions in B10:B11
6. Use the workbook title from the Documentation sheet as a centred header and add your initials,
surname and student number as a left-aligned footer, on the other 2 sheets
Reminder: As soon as you have Headers done, return the sheets to Normal View, to see your
sheet content more clearly.
Sales Sheet:
7. For each customer, add the following calculations – using absolute and relative cell addressing
as required:
• In cell D5, calculate the Amount before VAT
• In cell E5, calculate the VAT Amount
• In cell F5, calculate the Total Due to the nearest Rand
• In cell G5, determine whether or not the customer will get a gift or not – the result should
be Free Gift or No Gift
Fill down the above 4 calculations for the number of customers required in the scenario above.
8. Format cell content as follows:
• Bold the labels in A1:A2, E2 and A4:G4
• Centre-Align the content of A4:G4 and B5:B11
• Use the number formatting tool to format B2 to a percentage, with 1 decimal place
• Use the number formatting tool to format the cells C5:F11 to currency, with 2 decimal
places
• Wrap the text in cell D4
• Use the pre-set border tool to add All Borders to the range A4:G11
• Unhide columns I:K
• Shade the range A1:E2 as Standard Colour: Light Green
9. Create a clustered column chart on this sheet, showing the quantities purchased by each
customer, using A4:B11, then format the chart as follows:
• The title of the chart should be the same as the workbook title from the Documentation
sheet
• Add data labels Outside End of the columns
• Position & resize the chart within the range A20:E35
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Report Sheet
10. In cells A2:B2, extract the relevant data from the Sales sheet and fill down for the number of
customers specified in the scenario.
11. Calculate the following Summary values:
• In cell B10, calculate the number of customers – tip: make sure that you use the entire
range of possible customers
• In cell B11, calculate the lowest quantity bought by a customer
• In cell B12, calculate the average VAT amount, as a whole number
• In cell B13, calculate the highest amount before VAT
• In cell B14, determine the number of customers who purchased a quantity of 4 or less
• In cell B15, determine the total amount due by customers who purchased a quantity of
more than 5
12. Format all the relevant results to currency, with 2 decimal places
Finalising your Workbook:
13. Check your solution against the images provided below.
14. Save the final version of your file (in the location specified in the weekly Guide) and check the
date & time in File Explorer to make sure that you save your latest version.
15. Close the file and return to the SMARK system to upload the file from the location specified
in your weekly Guide, for online checking (remove any version number in the filename) and
view the Feedback Report.
Do NOT waste attempts by submitting the same solution (no changes) and expect a different
result!
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Project 8. Gramps1
Lessons 1-5
NOTE: Good practise for the test!!!
Scenario:
Your grandfather runs a seafood wholesale business called Gramps Fisheries. He needs your help to
keep track of the current specials he is running on sales (per Kg) of mussels and crabs. He buys in
the products at the following cost prices:
• Mussels – R12.40 per Kg
• Crabs – R25.60 per Kg
He sells his seafood at a 75% mark-up. At the moment, he is running a special, giving an 8.5% discount
to those customers who pre-pay straight into his bank account using an Electronic Funds Transfer
(EFT). Customers who pay on Account, Cash or Credit-card do not receive a discount. He also
charges all his customers 15% VAT.
Make provision for 6 customers.
Tasks:
Note: If you skip a critical step (e.g. inserting a column), nothing else you do on that sheet will mark
correctly – pay attention to every detail and read the instructions carefully.
1. Select to attempt FCS Excel Project 08 Gramps1 and, if provided, enter the password
provided in your weekly Guide.
2. Download the data file from SMark and save it in the location specified in the weekly
Guide:
P08Gramps1-studentnumber.xlsx
3. Open the file you saved in 2 above, in MS Excel from the location specified in the weekly Guide.
1st Sheet:
4. Type the date in B3 and your first-name & surname in cell B5 and your student number in cell
C5. Tip: drag-and-drop the column-widths if necessary (don’t use the alternative tip from Project
8-1 due to the long text in some of the cells in these two columns).
5. Change the name of the sheet to Documentation
6. Rename Sheet2 and Sheet3 to the names provided on this sheet.
2nd Sheet (Sales):
7. Select Page Layout view and type the following:
The same title that is on the 1st sheet as a centred header
Your name and student number as a left-aligned footer
Return to Normal view.
8. By mistake, the sheet has been created with only 1 quantity column – insert a column between
columns D & E and label the details as Qty Mussels and Qty Crabs in cells D8 & E8 respectively.
9. Enter the following data in your worksheet and centre the quantities entered (cells D9:E14 to
allow for 2 more customers to be added):
Retailer Qty Mussels Qty Crabs
Sumfing Fishy 10 0
Salt Fresh 14 24
Seafood Snacks 0 13
10. Before proceeding any further, select the whole sheet and do an automatic column-width
adjustment so that the contents of each column are fully displayed.
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11. In cell C2, enter the formula to calculate the retail price of mussels (use absolute addressing
where relevant only) and fill this formula down to cell C3 – DO NOT TYPE IT OR EDIT IT AFTER
THE FILL.
12. Type in the calculations for the following in row 9 – tip: never use actual values in formulas that
you are going to be copying to other rows and always use absolute cell addresses when using
cells in the common area – in this sheet the common area is in the A1:C6 range of cells:
Amount of sale at retail price
Discounted value – i.e. amount AFTER discount (discount only given if the condition in
the scenario above is true) – note: this calculation determines the discount amount AND
adjusts the Amount at retail price accordingly.
The VAT amount – hint: customers do not pay tax on money they are not going to pay.
The total amount due to the nearest R10 – your grandfather only deals in folding money,
not coins.
13. Check your absolute cell addressing & fill down the formulas in row 9 down to allow space for
the 6 customers required in the scenario.
14. Format all the labels to Bold, the money to Currency (not Accounting) to 2 decimal places and
percentages to show % to 1 decimal place – redo the automatic column-width task.
15. Sort the customers in descending order of Retailer (shop name).
Check your 2nd Sheet (Sales) detail values – they should be as follows:
16. Save the final version of your file (in the location specified in the weekly Guide) and check the
date & time in File Explorer to make sure that you save your latest version.
17. Close the file and return to the SMARK system to upload the file from the location specified
in your weekly Guide, for online checking (remove any version number in the filename) and
view the Feedback Report.
Do NOT waste attempts by submitting the same solution (no changes) and expect a different
result!
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Project 9. Gramps2
Lessons 1-5
2nd Part of the same workbook used in Project 08
Scenario:
[Adding to Project 08 Gramps1]
Gramps wants a report that shows the name and discounted value for each customer. He also wants
to know the total sales, the cost of those sales, the profit / loss from the sales, the number of customers,
the number of customers buying crabs (irrespective of whether they also buy mussels or not), the sales
from customers buying 10Kg of mussels or more (irrespective of whether they also buy crab or not),
and the average number of kilograms bought for mussels and crabs (as whole kilograms only).
He also needs a chart to illustrate the sales he has made to the different customers.
Make provision for 6 customers.
Tasks:
Note: If you skip a critical step (e.g. inserting a column), nothing else you do on that sheet will mark
correctly – pay attention to every detail and read the instructions carefully.
1. Select to attempt FCS Excel Project 09 Gramps2 in SMark and, if provided, enter the
password provided in your weekly Guide.
2. Download the data file from SMark and save it in the location specified in the weekly Guide:
P09Gramps2-studentnumber.xlsx
3. Open the file you saved in 2 above, in MS Excel from the location specified in the weekly Guide.
3rd Sheet (Report):
4. Select Page Layout view and type the following, then return to Normal view:
The same title that is on the 1st sheet as a centred header
Your name and student number as a left-aligned footer
5. Before proceeding any further, select all the labels and select Wrap Text so that each label is
fully displayed. Do NOT adjust the column widths.
6. Middle align the labels in cells A1:B1 (i.e. vertically centred).
7. Type the formulas in row 2 to extract the required information from the 2nd sheet and fill down
to allow for 6 customers specified in the scenario – Note: the Names heading refers to the
people not the shop.
8. Apply the fill colour Green, 60% Accent 6 to the range A1:B7.
9. Type the formulas to calculate the following:
In cell B9, calculate the grand total amount owing for all customers.
In cell B10, calculate the total cost amount of all the mussels and crabs sold.
In cell B11, calculate the amount of profit or loss made from these sales.
In cell A11, replace the label with a calculation to determine whether or not the amount
in cell B11 is a Profit from Sales or a Loss from Sales as the label (assume that 0 would
be considered a Profit rather than a Loss)
Adjust the row heights to show the whole label for A11:A14. Tip: use a similar alternative
method to adjusting the column-width.
In cell B12, calculate how many customers your grandfather has.
In cell B13, calculate how many customers bought crabs.
In cell B14, calculate the total sale amount for all the customers who bought 10 or more
kilograms of mussels.
In cell B15, calculate the average number of whole kilograms of seafood sold – mussels
and crabs.
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10. Align all the summary values so that they appear in the middle of the row (i.e. vertically centred).
11. Add borders around cells as follows:
All the report summary cells – A9:B15 – default border style.
A Green, Accent 6, Darker 50% thick outside border (default width) around the detail
cells – A1:B7.
12. Format all the remaining labels to Bold and all the money results to Currency (not Accounting)
to 2 decimal places.
13. Hide columns J to M.
14. Check your Report summary values – they should be as follows:
15. Create a pie chart using the cell ranges A2:A7 & B2:B7 as follows:
Show the discounted value of all sales, with the Names (of the people not the shop) in
the legend
The chart title should be Discounted Values of Sales
Use the appropriate tool to move the Legend to the right, without overlapping the chart
Label each slice as a % of the whole – use the Best Fit style
Fit the chart into the D1:H11 range of cells exactly. Tip: As long as the corners are within
the top-left and bottom-right cells, you are fine. Do not try and be TOO exact, otherwise
Ms Excel may interpret the range of cells slightly differently.
16. Save the final version of your file (in the location specified in the weekly Guide) and check the
date & time in File Explorer to make sure that you save your latest version.
17. Close the file and return to the SMARK system to upload the file from the location specified
in your weekly Guide, for online checking (remove any version number in the filename) and
view the Feedback Report.
Do NOT waste attempts by submitting the same solution (no changes) and expect a different
result!
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FCS Excel (Basics) References
References
Dept CS (2018) How to Cope with Spreadsheets, 3rd Ed, Department of Computing Sciences, NMU :
Port Elizabeth, RSA.
Parsons, J. & Oja, D. (2015) NMMU Computing Fundamentals, 2nd Ed, Cengage Learning EMEA :
Andover, UK.
Zacker, C. (2016) Microsoft Official Academic Course: Microsoft Word 2016, Wiley : USA.
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