MS Excel Definition, Formulas & Functions, Shortcut Keys and Basic formulas
Excel Definition, Formulas & Functions, Shortcut Keys and Basic formulas
Excel Overview
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program. Excel is a software program created by Microsoft and it uses spreadsheets to organize numbers and data with formulas and functions.
It is used very widely nowadays by everyone because it is very easy to use and it helps in saving a lot of time. The most impressive thing about Microsoft Excel is that it can be used anywhere and anytime for any kind of work. For example, it is used for billing, data management, data entry, inventory, finance, any type of business tasks, complex calculations, making any kind of data, etc. One can even do mathematical calculations with the help of predefined formulas and can also store important data in it in the form of charts, graphs or spreadsheets.
Below is an example of Microsoft Excel worksheet with each of its major sections highlighted. Check the cell, formula bar, column, row, etc in the below picture.
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| EXCEL Worksheet |
Understanding the worksheet
(Rows and Columns, Sheets, Workbooks)
A worksheet is a collection of row(s) and column(s). When a row and a column meets, they form a cell. Cells are used to record data. Each cell is uniquely identified using a cell address. Columns are usually labelled with letters (like A,B,C,D, and so on)while rows are usually numbers(like 1,2,3,4,and so on)
A workbook is a collection of worksheets. By default, a workbook has three sheets in Excel. You can delete or add more sheets to suit your requirements. By default, the sheets are named Sheet1, Sheet2, Sheet3 and so on and so forth. You can rename the sheet names according to your need into more meaningful names i.e. Daily Expenses, Total Monthly Sales, Total Monthly Expenditure, etc.
Microsoft excel can be used for the following purposes:
Here is the list of some common uses of excel in day-to-day life:
1 Accounting
2 Data entry
3 Making charts and graphs for analysis
4 For doing complex mathematical calculations
5 Inventory tracking
6 Storing your Data at one place
7 For making expense reports
8 For making calendars
Features of Microsoft Excel
1. Add Header and Footer
Microsoft Excel allows us to keep the header and footer in our spreadsheet.
2. Find and Replace Command
Microsoft Excel allows us to find the needed data (text and numbers) in the workbook and also replace the existing data with a new one.
3. Password Protection
It allows the user to protect their workbooks by using a password from unauthorized access to their data.
4. Data Filtering
Filtering is a quick and easy way to find and work with a subset of data in a range. A filtered range displays only the rows that meet the criteria you specify for a column.
5. Data Sorting
Data sorting is the process of arranging data in some logical order like ascending or descending order.
6. Built-in formulae
MS Excel has got many built-in formulae for sum, average, minimum, count, if, etc. We can use those formulae as per our needs.
7. Create different charts
MS Excel allows us to create different charts such as bar graphs, pie- charts, line graphs, etc.
8. Automatically edits the result
MS Excel automatically changes the result, if any changes are made in any of the cells like change in value of any cell.
Let’s first understand What is a Formula and a Function?
Formula
A formula is an expression which calculates the value of a Cell.
For example, Look at the picture below, cell A5 contains a formula which adds the value of cells A1, A2, A3, and A4. The addition of all these cells is shown in cell A5.
Function
Functions are predefined formulas already available in excel.
For example, Look at the picture below, cell A5 contains a SUM Function which adds the value of a range i.e. from A1 to A4.
Note: Always use the equals sign “=” before starting any formula or function in Excel.
SHORTCUT KEYS IN EXCEL
Some Commonly used shortcut keys in excel for Beginners are as follow:
NOTE: Here, + symbol in every shortcut key indicates that you need to press both keys together simultaneously.
Let’s learn some Excel functions
SUM
SUBTRACTION
MULTIPLICATION
DIVISION
SUM
If you need to sum a column or row of numbers, let Excel do it for you. You don’t need to calculate anymore. It is one of the most basic functions that is used in excel. It gives you the total of two or more cells. You can calculate the sum of cells using this function.
How to use it?
Let’s understand with the help of a picture below.
To know the SUM of the no. of items sold of all products, type the formula of Sum in the cell B5 i.e. ‘=sum(B2:B5) then press ‘Enter’ and you’ll get the result. This B2:B5 is your range of cells, for which you want the sum.
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| EXCEL SUM FORMULA |
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| EXCEL SUM FORMULA |
So, if you don’t want to type the SUM function, just simply press ALT and EQUALS SIGN KEY (Alt + =) and then press ENTER. You will get your answer.
SUBTRACTION
It is also a very easy formula. You just need to add a negative sign before the cell you’r subtracting.
For example, if A1 was 20 and B1 was 6, =SUM(A1, -B1) would perform 20 + -6, returning a value of 14.
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| SUBTRACTION IN EXCEL FUNCTIONS |
Or, If you don’t want to use SUM Function, You can simply type- =A2-B2
Let’s look at the picture and understand it better. Just do it like this shown in the picture.
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| SUBTRACTION FUNCTION |
MULTIPLICATION
To multiply numbers in Excel, use the asterisk symbol (*)
For example, The formula below multiplies the values in cells A1, A2 and A3.
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| MULTIPLICATION IN EXCEL |
This formula can get quite long, if you have many values to multiply. Use the PRODUCT function to shorten your formula.
For example, you can get the product of all numbers from cell A1 to A9 by using the PRODUCT function.
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| PRODUCT FUNCTION |
DIVISION
The most common way to do division is to use the divide sign. In MS Excel, the divide symbol is a forward slash (/).
How to divide numbers in Excel
To divide two numbers in Excel, you type the equals sign (=) in a cell, then type the number to be divided, followed by a forward slash, followed by the number to divide by, and press the Enter key to calculate the formula.
For example, Type like this in excel- =20/2. Then press enter, you will get 10 as your result.
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| DIVISION FORMULA IN EXCEL |
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