Computer Tutorials for Beginners

Combining Arithmetic Operators in Excel  - The basic operators you've just met can be combined to make more complex calculations. For example, you can add to cells together, and multiply by a third one. Like this: = A1 + A2 * A3 Or this: = A1 + A2 - A3 And even this: =SUM(A1:A9) * B1 In the above formula, we're asking Excel to add up the numbers in the cells A1 to A9, and then multiply the answer by B1. You'll get some practise with combining the operators shortly. But there's something you need to be aware of called Operator Precedence. Operator Precedence Some of the operators you have just met are calculated before others. This is known as Operator Precedence. As an example, try this: Open a new Excel spreadsheet In cell A1 enter 25 In cell A2 enter 50 In cell A3 enter 2 Now click in cell A5 and enter the following formula: =(A1 + A2) * A3 Hit the enter key on your keyboard, and you'll see an answer of 150. The thing to pay atten...

How to Multiply with Excel  - In an earlier section, you saw how to multiply two numbers. You use the asterisk symbol between two cell references: = A4 * B5 If you need to multiply more than two numbers, you don't have to do this: = A4 * A5 * A6 * A7 * A8 You can use the colon (:) notation to shorten the formula. With addition, you used the word SUM, and placed your formula between round brackets: = SUM(A4 : A8) With multiplication, you can use the word PRODUCT instead. Like this: = PRODUCT(A4 : A8) The only thing that has changed here is the name of the inbuilt function: PRODUCT instead of SUM. But Excel 2007 will see the word Product and multiply whatever is between the round brackets. You can use PRODUCT in the same way you did for SUM. For example, if you wanted to add up values in cells A4 to A8, and cells B4 and B5, you'd do it like this: = PRODUCT(A4:A8, B4, B5) To give you some practice, try these exercises. Exercise On a new worksheet, e...

Format an Excel Chart  - In   the previous lesson , you saw how to use the   Layout   panels to change the layout of the chart itself. The   Format   panels allow you to create some great looking charts with just a few mouse clicks. Click on your chart to select it, and then click the   Format   menu at the top of the Excel Ribbon. You should see this long menu, split in two here (In newer versions of Excel, you may also have an Insert Shapes area): Using the various   Format Panels   on the Excel Ribbon, we'll format our chart from this: To this: OK, it may look a bit gaudy! But at least it's lively. You can create a chart like this quite easily: First, click on your chart to highlight it Click the   Format   menu on the Excel Ribbon Locate the   Shape Styles   panel: Click the down arrow on the right of the panel to see the available styles (there might not be so many styles in Excel 2...

How to Multiply in Excel  - In the previous parts of this Excel tutorial, you have been working on a spreadsheet that now looks like this: To get the weekly cost of each chocolate bar, we need to multiply the   Number   of bars eaten in one week by the   Price . This can then go in the   Cost   column. The standard way to multiply things is like this: 12 x 10 = 120 The "x" means multiply. In a spreadsheet, however, the letter "x" is not used to multiply things. Spreadsheets use the asterisk symbol instead (the one above the number 8 on your keyboard, in the UK). The previous sum would then look like this: 12   *   10 = 120 Actually, in Excel, you don't need much more than that to multiply. The only other thing you need is an equals sign before the formula. So to get the answer 120, you'd just enter this into any cell: = 12   *   10 Instead of entering numbers directly, though, we'll enter a cell reference instead. To ...

How to add an Hyperlink to an Excel Spreadsheet  - If you have a lot of different worksheets and want a quick way to jump between them, you can use Hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are those underlined bits of text on the internet that lead to web pages To get a feel for how they work in Excel, start a new spreadsheet and do the following: Click inside cell A1 of the spreadsheet On the Excel menu bar, click on  Insert From the drop down menu, click on  Hyperlink The dialogue box below will appear: The icons on the left of the dialogue box are all the places you can link to: Existing file or web page, This document, New document, or an Email address. We're going to place links in specific cells of three different worksheets. So: Locate the text area under " Or select a place in this document " If there is a Plus sign ( + ) next to "Cell Reference", click on the plus sign to expand it. You should see the same choices as in the image above C...

How to Set Up Named Ranges in Excel  - Instead of using something like = SUM(A2:A5) to add up a column of numbers, you can replace the A2:A5 part of the function with a more descriptive name. This is known as a Named Range. Examine the spreadsheet below: In the Results Row, cell B5 is a result of adding up cells B2 to B4. The formula used is just this: =Sum(B2:B4) Now examine the same spreadsheet, but with a Named Range used: This time, cell B5 doesn't have in it the formula = Sum(B2:B4). As you can see, it has =SUM(Monthly_Totals). This is the label from B1. We have created a   Named Range . The formula in cell B5 is now more descriptive. We can tell at a glance what it is we're adding up. Excel has replaced the B2:B4 part with the name we gave it. Behind the scenes, though, we're still adding up the numbers in cells B2 to B4. Excel has just hidden the cell references behind our descriptive name.   You'll now see how to create your own Named Ranges. ...