Chapter 4
MS Excel (Spreadsheets)
Spreadsheets
A spreadsheet is consisted of rows and columns.
It is used for mathematical calculations and plotting figures.
In a spreadsheet, columns are lettered e.g. A, B …etc. and rows are numbered
Cells get
their names
from column
and row
ID’s.
H3
E5
Selecting cells
To select an individual cell, just click on it.
To select a range of neighboring cells, click on a cell and while holding mouse
button drag the cursor.
To select cells separately or apart from each other, press and hold Ctrl and
using mouse select the desired cells.
Changing the fill colour and font colour
cells and wrapping text
Font colour
Fill colour
To wrap a text
Workbook and sheets
Each individual Excel file is called a workbook.
A workbook contains a number of sheets.
Click on to add
another sheet
Sheets In Microsoft 2010
Inserting/edition data
To insert data (text, dates or numbers) just click in a cell and start typing.
To edit a cell, double click the cell and then you can edit it.
If you want to apply some format (size, color, font etc.) click that cell once then do
the changes.
Selecting Rows and columns
To select a row/column, place the cursor on the row/column ID
When the cursor changes its shape to a black arrow click once.
To select rows/columns apart from each other press and hold Ctrl
Sorting data
Sorting means arranging data on a basis e.g. alphabetically, from greatest to smallest
or vice versa…etc.
If you have a list of names inserted randomly you can arrange it alphabetically.
If you have a list of numbers you can arrange them to start from the largest number
to the smallest and vice versa.
Sorting alphabetically/numerically
Select the list of numbers/names, in “Home “ tab go to
Editing group, Sort & Filter
Sorts from smallest to
largest/ from A to Z
Sorts from largest to
smallest/ from Z to A
Copying/Moving
To copy/move data, just select the cells to be copied/moved and press
Ctrl+ C/ Ctrl+x ( or right click, select copy/cut)
In a new place, press Ctrl+V (or right click, select paste)
To copy/move data between different sheets follow the same procedure
The autofill tool
The autofill tool or handle repeats a formula, text, increments to other
cells.
To inset months, you don’t need to type all the names.
Type in “January” then use the autofill tool and all the months will be
inserted.
Using autofill tool
Type a number such as “5” in a cell
place the cursor on the handle, when the cursor changes
its shape to + then press and hold the mouse button and
drag it down and release it somewhere
Click here to open
the menu
If you select this option
then the numbers will
increase in each step by 1.
Autofill alternative
You can use autofill not using autofill handle.
Type in a number like “1”
It is possible to command Excel to insert numbers
starting from 1 to for example 30 with increment of 1 or
any number.
To do that in Home tab go to Editing group, Fill, series
Increment
Deleting cell contents
To delete cell content, select cells then go to Editing
group, clear, clear content, or press delete in keyboard.
Alignment
Horizontaly: Select the cell range to
be aligned from home tab and
Alignment group, select an alignment
Verticaly: Select the cell range to
be aligned from home tab and
Alignment group, select an alignment
Inserting rows/columns
To insert a row or column, go to Cell group in Home tab.
Click on insert then insert sheet rows/columns
Or select a row/column then right click and insert.
By default, columns are inserted to the left and rows to
the above.
Deleting rows/columns
In Home tab go to Cell group, Delete , Delete sheet
rows/columns.
Or select a row/column then right click and delete
Modifying column width and row height
It is possible to change width of column and height of
rows.
To do that, in Cell group, go to format
AutoFit column width/Row height
Sometimes it is easier to fit cells to content automatically
rather than changing dimensions manually.
To automatically fit a column/row width/height to its
content, select that column/row, go to Cell group, Format,
AutoFit column width or AutoFit row height
Inserting/Deleting worksheets
Additional worksheets can be inserted:
• Select the worksheet that you want to insert one to the right of it.
• Click on the button of sheet inserting located on sheet bar.
To delete a sheet just right click on it and choose “Delete”.
Copying/Moving/Renaming worksheets
To move a worksheet just click on it and hold the left button then drag it to a
desired place.
To copy a worksheet do same as moving plus holding Ctrl key on keyboard.
To rename a worksheet, double click on it and then you can rename it. Or right
click on the sheet and choose rename.
Copying/Moving/Renaming worksheets
Or right click on the desired sheet and chose move or
copy then choose the place you want to move the sheet
to it and if you want to copy it tick Create a copy
Freezing and hiding rows/columns
Freeze rows or columns:
To freeze the first column: View>freeze panes> freeze first
column
To freeze rows/columns: select the cell below the rows and to
the right of the columns you want to be visible when scrolling: from
view group>freeze panes>freeze panes.
Unfreeze rows or columns:
On the view tab>freeze panes>unfreeze panes.To unfreeze a row/
column, fisrt select it then from view group choose freeze and
choose unfreeze pane.
Hiding and unhiding rows or columns:
To hide a row/column: select a column/or rows then right click >
hide.
To unhide a row/column: select a two adjacent columns/rows to
that column from right and left of the column/rows then right click
and> unhide
Exercise
7 Freeze column H
8 Hide column D
Formula and Functions
Arithmetic formulas
Mathematical functions and operations
Power: use sign (^) e.g. =5^2
Square root : (sqrt) e.g. =sqrt(2)
Pi : =pi()
Angles: Excel uses radian angles
Use function Radians to change degree to radian and then
you can use trigonometric functions. E.g. =radians(30)
Sin: e.g. =Sin(3)
Cos: =Cos(3)
Tan: =tan(3)
N o t e 3 i s i n ra d i a n
Mathematical functions and operations
Or go to Formulas> Math & Trig > then choose the
function you want
Exercise
For x=1 to 5 calculate the following formula:
(𝑥 + 1)2 sin(𝑥)
1
(3𝑥 + 𝑥2 − 2) 3
Border Effects
To format cells with borders
and lines, do the following:
• Select the cell or cell range
to be formatted.
• From the Home tab and Font group,
select the Border arrow.
• Select a border from the menu
or select More Borders at the bottom
of the menu. The Format Cells window
opens with the Borders tab selected.
Merging Cells
To merge cells, do the following:
• Select the cell range to be merged.
• From the Home tab and Alignment group, select the
Merge & Center.
• Choose a merge option from the menu
To Unmerge cells do the same steps.
Functions
• To insert any formula, first type in “=“ then you can
write a formula or using a certain function
Sum
This function is used to adding up numbers
Click in a cell and type in “=“
Now a formula or a function can be inserted
Type in “sum”, from menu double click on it or press tab
key
You can select the range that you wan to sum up or type
in the range e.g. A2:B6
Close the parenthesis and
press enter
Information
on function
Or goto formulas>Autosum>sum
Average
The function calculates average of a range of numbers
Click in a cell and type in “=“
Type in “average”
Double click on it in menu or press tab key or continue
writing “(“
Specify range
Close the parenthesis and
press enter
Min
This function finds the minimum value out of a set of
numbers.
Click in a cell and type in “=“
Type in “Min”
Double click on it in menu or press tab key or continue
writing “(“
Specify range
Close the parenthesis and
press enter
Maximum
This function finds the maximum value out of a set of
numbers.
Click in a cell and type in “=“
Type in “Max”
Double click on it in menu or press tab key or continue
writing “(“
Specify range
Close the parenthesis and
press enter
Count
It calculates the number of cells filled with numbers in a
range.
Click in a cell and type in “=“
Type in “Count”
Double click on it in menu or press tab key or continue
writing “(“
Specify range
Close the parenthesis and
press enter
Count A
It counts the number of cells that contain numbers or
text in a range of cells.
Click in a cell and type in “=“
Type in “Count A”
Double click on it in menu or press tab key or continue
writing “(“
Specify range
Close the parenthesis and
press enter
Round
To round numbers to a specific digit after decimal
Click in a cell and type in “=“
Type in “Round”
Double click on it in menu or press tab key or continue
writing “(“
Specify range, specify number of digits after decimal
Close the parenthesis, press and hold Ctrl then press
enter
Common errors
Common errors
Accidently column B got
deleted
Cell referencing
In a formula such as A1+B1, cell referencing is relative.
When autofill is used this formula is copied but the cell
references will change relatively e.g. A2+B2, A3+B3 etc.
There are times that a absolute (constant) cell reference
is required e.g. multiplying a column by a constant
To make a constant cell reference use $ : $A$1, $B$15
A1+$B$1
A shortcut for absolute reference is F4 button on
keyboard.
IF statement
This is a logical function. It is consisted of three parts:
1. A condition e.g. <=>
2. What to do if the condition is true.
3. What to do if the condition is false.
Or goto Formulas>Logical>IF>then fill it as below:
Using IF to return numerical values
In a cell type “ =if( “
Write a condition and type comma (,) .
Type what to do if the condition is met and press comma
Type what to do if the condition is not met and close the parenthesis.
Example: use if statement to solve the following: Write down the
statement here(first
𝑦 = 𝑥 + 1 → (𝑥 < 4) value of y) then use
autofill to find other
𝑦 = 𝑥 → (𝑥 ≥ 4) values.
X Y
2 3
Using If to return text values
To return text values, use quotation marks (“):
Type in “=if(“
Type in a condition
Type the text values for true or false arguments in quotation marks
Example: Write down the
4 < 𝑥 < 4 → 𝑦 = 𝑁𝑜𝑡𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 statement here(first
value of y) then use
𝑥 = 4 → 𝑦 = 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑 autofill to find other
values of y.
=4,”Good”,”Not good”) Using
autofill
y will
X
automatic
ally give
2 Not Good you this
answer
Nested IF
It is possible to use more than one IF statement at once.
=If(condition , ” True argument” if(condition, “True argument”))
Example: Use if statement to comment on the below data in A column as follow:
Mark>=80 Grade= Verygood
Write down the statement
Mark>=70 Grade= Good
here(first value of Grade)
Mark>=50 Grade= Pass then use autofill to find
Mark<50 Grade= Fail other grades.
Always start from conditions of highest values if you use greater than (>) sign.
While for < (less than) sign start from smallest values condition.
Exercise1
Rainfall (mm) season
500
300
1000
250
700
150
Use if statement to comment on the above data as
follow:
Rainfall <=300mm season= Dry
Rainfall<=200mm season= very dry
Rainfall>300 mm season= Semi-Dry
Rainfall>500 mm season= Wet
Rainfall>750 mm season= Very wet
Exercise 2
The following data are compressive test results for concrete
samples:
Specimen Cross sectional size
1 2 3 4 5 6
No Length 150 mm
Force (KN) Width 150 mm
630 562 405 855 540 610
• For each specimen find compressive strength=(Force*1000) / Area
• Area = Length * Width
• Use If statement to comment on calculated compressive strength as
follow:
Compressive strength >35 (Unreasonable)
Compressive strength (24-35)(Pass)
Compressive strength<24 (Fail)
Formatting
Numbers
If you want all numbers in a cell range to appear with a
specified decimal place
If you want large numbers to have 1000 separator e.g.
10,000,000
Select the cell range
From home tab, cell group, go to Formatting then cell
formatting
Formatting numbers
Specify
Tick to
number of
have 1000
digits after
separator
decimal
Currency
Select a cell range
To format currency go to Home-Cell-Format-Format
cells
Select the
currency
you are
using
Date
Different formats are available for dates
Select a cell range
Go to Home-Cells-Format-Cell format-Date
Choose a format here
Charts
Types of charts
There are many chart types available in Excel. In this
course, the following types of charts are taken:
1. Scatter
2. Line
3. Column
4. Pie
Scatter (1)
This type of charts is known as xy charts.
Used to draw values of two variables against each other.
Usually, lab measurements are drawn using scatter charts.
Scatter (2)
Click in an empty cell
Go to Insert tab, Chart group, Scatter and click on its
arrow, select a type
In Microsoft 2013
In Microsoft 2010
Right click on the
inserted chart area
Scatter chart- Selecting Data
Click on
to select
Write series name
x-data
Click on
to select
y-data
Select data then click on
Exercise
Draw the following points and find a suitable relationship
between them.
x y
1 2
2 4
3 8
4 16
5 32
Line, Column and Pie chart
Line charts are used to show trend of a phenomenon
over time
Column charts are usually used to compare two or more
data series together
Pie charts are used to show shares of different
components of data
Examples of line, pie and column charts
Water consumption
Domestic use
20%
35%
Agricultural
demand
45% Industrial
demand
Creating line, column and pie charts
To create any of line, column and pie chart:
Select the data to be charted
Go to Home tab, chart group and select one of the above
types.
Labels
To label a chart , first select the chart
When the chart is selected, a new tab “Layout” appears
Go to Layout tab, Labels group
In Microsoft 2010
To show
Labeling x data values
and y axes In Microsoft
2013 click on
the chart
then click on
the plus sign
(+)
Adding/Removing gridlines
You can add/remove vertical and horizontal gridlines.
To do so, select a chart, go to “Layout” tab, Axes, Gridlines
*In Microsoft 2013 click on the chart then
click on the plus sign (+) then tick Gridlines
Formatting major/minor axes units in
Microsoft 2010
Select the chart, from layout tab go to Axes group, Axes:
• Select the axes you want to format (Horizontal/vertical)
• Go to More Axes options
Formatting major/minor axes units in
Microsoft 2013
Select the chart, from Design tab go to Add chart element
then Axes, more axis options.
• Select the axes you want to format (Horizontal/vertical)
• Go to More Axes options
Formatting major/minor axes units (2)
In Microsoft 2010
In Microsoft 2013
Exercise (Column chart )
Use column chart to compare the following set of data.
Flexural
Sample
strenghth(Mpa)
7 days 0% 3.9
5% 3.5
10% 3.1
15% 3.4
28 days 0% 4.5
5% 4.1
10% 3.5
15% 3.7
Select the series
name (7 days)
Select series values
(Flexural strength for 7days)
Repeat these steps for 28 days series.
The chart will be as follow:
5.0
4.5
4.0
Flexural strength (Mpa)
3.5
3.0
2.5
7 days
2.0 28 days
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0% 5% 10% 15%
Samples
Exercise (Scatter Chart)
Draw a graph for y=x^2 using scatter chart.
Note:
In a column insert some values for x starting from 0-10
Calculate y
Now you can chart them
Add axis titles to the chart
Show major and minor horizontal and vertical gridlines
Change the major unit of horizontal axis to 0.5
Adding trend line in Microsoft 2010
Trend line are the best fit curves
Excel has ability of providing drawn data with an equation
that fits data.
To draw a trend line, select the chart, go to Layout tab,
Analysis group, trend line, More trend line options
Choosing a trend line
There is a number of trend line alternatives.
There is no rigid guideline to choose a type,
You will try one by one until you find the best one for
your data.
You can choose to display R^2 with each trend line.
R^2 is a statistical parameter <1
As much as R^2 is close to 1 then the trend line
represents data better.
Displaying equation and R^2
• It is possible to display equation and R^2 when adding a
trend line.
• To do that in the trend line dialogue window , you must
check their options.
Exercise
Water height and discharge measurements for a
rectangular weir are tabulated. Graph them and find an
equation to represent their relationship.
Water Discharge
depth (l/s)
(mm)
• Put all the useful labels and titles
• Set major unit for horizontal axis to be 10
19.2 136 • Set major unit for vertical axis to be 50
30 271 • Display vertical major gridlines
39.2 402 • Add a linear trend line
50.5 603
58.5 756
