M S EXCEL
Introduction
Microsoft Excel is a commercial spreadsheet application, written and
distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet tool capable of performing calculations,
analyzing data and integrating information from different programs.
By default, documents saved in Excel 2010 are saved with the .xlsx
extension whereas the file extension of the prior Excel versions are .xls.
Microsoft Excel terminology
Workbook — The workbook refers to an Excel spreadsheet file. The
workbook houses all of the data that you have entered and allows you to
sort or calculate the results. A workbook that is available to be viewed and
edited by multiple users on a network is known as a Shared Workbook.
Worksheet — Within the workbook is where you'll find documents called
worksheets. Also known as spreadsheets, you can have multiple
worksheets nestled in a workbook. Tabs at the bottom of the of the screen
will indicate which of your worksheets you are currently working on. This is
also known as an active worksheet or active sheet.
Cell — A cell is a rectangle or block housed in a worksheet. Any data that
you want to enter into your worksheet must be placed in a cell. Cells can be
color coded, display text, numbers and the results of calculations, based on
what you want to accomplish. An Active Cell is one that is currently opened
for editing.
Columns and Rows — Columns and Rows refer to how your cells are
aligned. Columns are aligned vertically while rows are aligned horizontally.
Column and Row headings — These headings are the lettered and
numbered gray areas found just outside of columns and rows. Clicking on a
heading will select the entire row or column. You can also alter the row
height or column width using the headings.
Workspace — Much like worksheets in a workbook, a workspace allows
you to open numerous files simultaneously.
Ribbon — Above the workbook is a section of command tabs called the
Ribbon. A multitude of options are found behind each tab of the ribbon
Cell Reference — A cell reference is a set of coordinates that identifies a
specific cell. It's a combination of letters and numbers. A5, for example,
would point to the cell located where column A and row 5 intersect.
Cell Range — A Cell range is a collection of cells that have been identified
as a group based on a variety of criteria. By using a colon (:) between cell
references, Excel can determine the range, also known as an array. A
range in a row, for example, could look like A1:C1, telling the formula to
look at the cells in a row between A1 and C1, while B4:D9 would tell the
formula to look at all cells in a box bounded by columns B and D and rows
4 and 9. A 3-D reference refers to a range that encompasses more than
one worksheet in the same workbook.
Merged Cell — When two or more cells are combined, it's become what is
known as a merged cell.
Template — A template is a formatted workbook or worksheet designed to
help users fulfill a specific need in Excel. Examples of this include stock
analysis, process map, and calendar.
Operator — Operators are symbols or signs that indicate which calculation
must be made in an expression. Operators do not necessarily refer to
simple mathematical types; comparison, text concatenation or reference
operators also exist.
Formula — A sequence inside a cell that is used to produce a value. It
must begin with an equal (=) sign. This could be a mathematical equation,
cell references, functions or operator. A formula is also known as an
expression.
Formula Bar — Nestled between the ribbon and workbook, the Formula
Bar will display the contents of an active cell. In the case of formulas, the
formula bar will display all components of the formula.
Function — Functions are formulas that are pre-built into Excel. They are
designed to help simplify potentially complex formulas in a worksheet.
Error Code — Error Codes appear if Excel finds a problem with a provided
formula.
Cell Formatting — This is the act of changing the in which cell data is
displayed in the spreadsheet. When you format cells, only the visual
appearance of the cells is changed; the value within the cells remain
constant.
Conditional Formatting — Formatting is applied only when the cell meets
determined criteria such as duplicate values or values above or below a
threshold.
Filter — Filters are rules that you can employ to decide which rows in a
worksheet to display. These filters can use data such as conditions or
values.
Freeze Panes — Freezing Panes allows you to select specific columns
and/or rows to remain visible on the worksheet, even if you are scrolling,
such as header cells that label a column.
AutoFill — This enables you to effortless copy data to more than one cell.
AutoSum — This feature will add up the numbers you have entered in your
sheet and displays the total in a cell of your choosing.
AutoFormat — This is an automated format application to cells that match
pre-determined criteria. This could be as simple as font alignment and size.
Data Validation — This feature helps to prevent incorrect data from being
entered into your worksheet. This most commonly used to create drop-
down lists for common terms. Data validation promotes consistency and
accuracy in the data to be entered.
Pivot Table — This is a data summarization tool most commonly used to
sort, average to sum up data automatically. The information is pulled from
one table while the results are displayed in another. Pivot Tables makes it
easy to retrieve specific information from a large source of data.
Pivot Chart — This type of chart provides a visual aid for pivot tables. By
providing graphical representations of the pivot table data, the user can
provide a level of interactivity with the data.
Pivot Area — The pivot area is a point on the worksheet where you would
drag a Pivot Table field in order to reorganize how a report is displayed.
Source Data — This is the information used to create your pivot table. It
can either exist within the worksheet or from and an external database.
Values Area — In a pivot table, Value areas are identified as the cells that
contain the summary information.
Item — These are sub-categories of fields in your pivot table. If you have a
field that is marked State, the items could be Alabama, Alaska and so on.
Excel
Excel is used for many purposes. You can store your confidential financial
data as well as numerical data. Apart from storing the data, you can also
retrieve and manipulate data.
Excel T
MS Excel has a grid format sheet where you can store, retrieve, organize,
and manipulate numerical and financial data. It is a spreadsheet program
which is ideal for storing and extracting confidential company data that can
be used for entering, calculating, and comparing facts and figures for taxes,
sales, and commissions.
Importance of Excel Skills
Microsoft Excel has now become an important software and program for all
business organizations. It has a simple interface that allows you to perform
calculations and basic activities such as summing up the columns and
rows. You can generate memos, sales trends for tracking, and other related
data.
The main reason behind Excel popularity is that the user can use different
summation and other formulas for calculating half-yearly, quarterly, and
annual reports. You can also track sales leads, taxes, project status, and
get invoice reports.
Excel : Explore Window
Here you can check the important parts of the Excel window.
File Tab
In a file tab, you will find various options like opening and saving of files,
creating a new sheet, print, and other related options.
Ribbon
In the ribbon, you will find various commands including Tabs, Groups, and
commands wherein tabs you will find options such as home, insert, page
layout etc.
View Button
In a view option, you will find normal layout, page layout, and page break
option.
Sheet Area
In a sheet area, you can enter data. It has a flashing vertical bar which is
known as an insertion point and represents the place where you can enter
the text.
Status Bar
In a status bar, you will find the details of the sheet and the insertion
location. In the bar, you will find the total number of pages and word count.
What is Excel used for?
Excel is used to keep tracking and accessing financial data and information
about any company or organization. It helps in
To keep track of total sales and income earned by the customer.
Monitoring employee’s salary and customer payments.
To keep track of expenses.
To calculate the total work hours of an employee to pay monthly
wages.
Monitoring monthly payments on mortgages.
Analysis through graphs and charts and to analyze the company
performance in accordance with time.
Based on three years previous data, you can calculate monthly sales.
To note projects and tasks assigned to the particular employee.
How to use Excel?
Firstly, we will enter some data into the cell. A cell is a row number and
column number. For example, let’s create a worksheet for student’s marks
where the columns have the student name in Column A. Now enter Math,
English, and Science in B1, C1, and D1. Now, we have the 5*4 grid.
To make everything visible, you can click on the Center justify icon so that
all the data comes at the center underneath headings.
Excel Basic Formulas: Sum
The Sum formula is a great one to start with. Excel
formulas all start with an = sign, followed by the function
name and a section in parentheses to provide ranges or
arguments. Start out by typing =sum(
Sum requires a range of cells you want to add together.
You can type your range in, or you can select it using your
mouse or input device. In this case, we will select
D2:D21.
Next up you can close the parenthesis, although newer
versions of Excel will auto close it for you.
Excel Basic Formulas: Sum, Average, Min, Max, and
Count
Using the same method, yyou
ou can calculate the average,
minimum value, maximum value, and count:
Here are some basic formulas, and what they do.
Sum Adds all the cells together and gives you the total sum.
Average Gives you the average of the selection you provide.
Returns the smallest value from the selection you
Min
provide.
Max Returns the largest value from the selection you provide.
Count Counts how many cells have values in them.
Marksheet Format in Excel
Every organization nowadays, whether it is any
multinational company, small proprietorship,
school or college, etc., uses MS Excel to maintain
their data and analyze the data for taking
decisions. In schools, there are more than 1000
students in various standards and divisions. It is
difficult to maintain their data manually in
registers. That is why the management of schools
uses MS Excel to maintain data of students. In the
excel mark sheet, we have to manipulate the
marks of students in various ways to evaluate their
performance and give the result.
How to Make Marksheet in Excel Format?
Let us understand how to create mark sheet in
excel.
Suppose, we have following data for marks scored
in various subjects by 120 students.
We want to find the total marks scored, an
average of marks (this will also help us to give
students grade) and result that whether the
student is passed or failed.
#1 – SUM Function
To find out the total, we will use the SUM
The syntax for the SUM in excel is as follows:
This function takes 255 numbers in this way to
add. But we can also give the range for more than
255 numbers too as an argument for the function,
to sum up.
There are various methods to specify numbers as
follows:
#1 – Comma Method
Total will be –
In this method, we use commas for specifying and
separating the arguments. We have specified or
selected various cells with commas.
#2 – Colon Method (Shift Method)
In this method, we have used ‘Shift’ key after
selecting the first cell (E3) and then used the Right
Arrow key to select cells till I3. We can select
continuous cells or specify the range with colon
manually.
Total will be –
After entering the formula for the first student, we
can copy down the formula using Ctrl+D as
shortcut key after selecting the range with the first
cell at the top so that this formula can be copied
down.
Apply the above formula to all the remaining cells.
We get the following result.
#2 – AVERAGE Function
For calculating Average Marks, we will use
the AVERAGE function. The syntax for
the AVERAGE function is same as SUM
function.
This function returns the average of its arguments.
We can pass arguments to this function in the
same way as we pass arguments to the SUM
function.
For evaluating average in the excel marksheet, we
will use AVERAGE function in the following way.
We will select marks scored by a student in all 5
subjects.
The average will be –
We will use Ctrl+D to copy down the function.
Apply the above formula to all the remaining cells.
We get the following result.
As we can see that we have got values in decimal
for average marks which doesn’t look good. Now
we will use the ROUND function to round the
values to the nearest integer.
#3 – ROUND Function
This function is used to round the values to the
specified number of digits.
The syntax for the ROUND function in excel is as
follows:
Arguments Explanation
Number: For this argument, we need to
provide the number which we want to round.
We can give reference to the cell containing a
number or specify number itself.
Num_digits: In this argument, we specify the
number of digits which we want after the point
in the number. If we want pure integer then
we specify 0.
Let us use this function in excel marksheet. We will
wrap up the AVERAGE function with ROUND
function to round the number which will be
returned by the AVERAGE function.
We have used the AVERAGE
function for number argument
and 0 for num_digits.
After pressing Enter, we will get the desired result
i.e., number with no decimal digit.
The average will be –
Apply the above formula to all the remaining cells.
We get the following result.
#4 – IF Function
Now to find out the grade, we have the following
criteria.
If the student has scored average marks
greater than or equal to 90 then Student will
get grade S
If the student has scored average marks
greater than or equal to 80 then Student will
get grade A+
If the student has scored average marks
greater than or equal to 70 then Student will
get grade A
If the student has scored average marks
greater than or equal to 60 then Student will
get grade B+
If the student has scored average marks
greater than or equal to 35 then Student will
get grade B
If the student has scored average marks less
than 35 then Student will get grade F.
To apply these criteria, we will use the IF function
in excel multiple times. This is called NESTED IF
in excel also as we will use IF function to give
an argument to the IF function itself.
We have used the following formula to evaluate
grade in excel marksheet.
Let us understand the logic applied in the formula.
As we can see that for ‘logical_test’ which is the
criterion, we have given reference of K3 cell
containing AVERAGE of marks and have used
logical operators which is ‘Greater
Than’ and ‘Equal To’ and then compared the
value with 90.
It means if the average marks scored by the
student is greater than or equal to 90 then write
the value which we will specify in the
‘value_if_true’ argument and if this criterion is
not satisfied by the average marks then what
should be written in the cell as ‘Grade’, that we
will specify for ‘value_if_false’ argument.
For ‘value_if_true’ argument, we will specify text
(Grade) within double quotes i.e., “S”.
For ‘value_if_false’ argument, we will again start
writing IF function as we have many more criteria
and the corresponding grade to assign if this
criterion is not satisfied.
Now we have started writing IF function again
for ‘value_if_false’ argument and specified the
criteria to compare average marks with 80 this
time.
The result will be –
If average marks are greater than or equal to 70
but less than 80 (first IF function criteria), then
Student will get ‘A’ grade.
In this way, we will apply IF function in the same
formula for 5 times, as we have 6 criteria.
Make sure as we have opened brackets for, IF
function 5 times, we need to close all brackets.
# 5 – COUNTIF
For finding out Result, whether a student is
“PASSED” or “FAILED”, we have to apply the
following criteria.
If the student has scored greater than 200 as
total marks and scored greater than 33 in all
subjects then the student is PASSED.
If a student has scored less than 33 in 1 or 2
subjects and total marks are greater than 200
then the student has got ER (Essential
Repeat).
If the student has scored less than 33 in more
than 2 subjects or less than or equal to 200 as
total marks, then the student is FAILED.
As we need to evaluate a number of subjects in
which student has scored less than 33, we need to
use COUNTIF function which will count numbers
based on the specified criterion.
The syntax for the COUNTIF function is as follows:
Arguments
Range: Here we need to give reference to the
cells containing a number to compare the
criterion with.
Criteria: To specify the criterion, we can use
logical operators so that only those numbers
will be counted which will satisfy the criterion.
AND Function
The syntax for AND function excel is as follows:
In AND function, we specify the criteria. If all the
criteria are satisfied, then only TRUE comes. We
can specify up to 255 criteria.
The formula which we have applied is as follows:
As this can be seen, we have used AND
function inside IF function to give multiple
criteria and COUNTIF function inside AND
function to count the number of subjects in which
student has scored greater than or equal to 33.
The result will be –
Apply the above formula to all the remaining cells.
We get the following result.
Things to Remember about Marksheet in Excel
Make sure to close the brackets for the IF
function.
While specifying any text in the function,
please use double quotes (” “) as we have
used while writing “Passed”, “Failed”, “ER” etc.