MCD2080 Week 1 Tutorial:
Introduction to Excel
Introduction to Excel
Microsoft Excel
• Spreadsheet system – convenient data tables
• Plotting and charting tools
• Data summaries via pivot tables
• Calculations with built-in functions
• Add-in toolpaks for more advanced calculations
Introduction to Excel
Getting Excel Ready:
• Install the latest version of Excel
• Install Data Analysis Toolpak
➢ Window users: File > options > Add-ins > Manage Excel add-ins
(down at the bottom) > Go.
Then tick Analysis ToolPak and Solver add-in
➢ Mac users: Tools > Excel add-ins (down at the bottom).
Then tick Analysis ToolPak and Solver add-in
Introduction to Excel
Quick access
toolbar
Menu Tab
Ribbon
Formula bar
Column identifier
Row Identifier
Status bar
Menu Tab contains various “ribbons” Each ribbon has a different palette of icon/options.
The Home ribbon is displayed by default, and contains various general formatting/editing tools.
Commonly Used Menu Tab
The Insert ribbon contains useful Excel tools of tables, plots and drawing tools.
The Data ribbon contains data management tools: importing, sorting, filtering
including more complex tools of Data Analysis and Solver.
Excel worksheets
An Excel “workbook” can contain multiple “worksheets”
For example, there are four worksheets in “Week 1 Lecture Data.xlsx”
It is possible to refer to a data table from any sheets within a workbook
Formulas in Excel
Cells: can contain data – it can be in the form numbers or text or formulas.
Cells are referenced by a column letter and a row number
• Cell A 1 contains number 6
Formulas in Excel
Cells: can contain data – it can be in the form numbers or text or formulas.
Cells are referenced by a column letter and a row number
• Cell A 1 contains number 6 Content of current cell
Current location of
your cursor
Formulas in Excel
Formulas: You may perform mathematical computations using formulas in any
cells.
➢ Start with “=“ sign.
➢ Simple operations addition (+), subtraction(-), multiplication(*), division (/)
and powers (^).
Formulas in Excel
Formulas: You may perform mathematical computations using formulas in any
cells.
➢ Formulas in a cell can be copied by selecting the cell and double clicking on
the tiny green square on the bottom right hand corner.
Functions in Excel
Functions: for calculations other than basic operations
• For example “=SQRT(C4)”
• Square root operation on the number stored in cell C4
Prompt to Excel that
this is a function
=SQRT(C4)
Function name Round brackets
specific to Excel for function input
Functions in Excel
Some functions require multiple inputs
To define a range of consecutive cells, use colon “:”
• E.g. A1:A5
• A:A indicate the whole of column A
Functions in Excel
There are 300+ functions in Excel
You can look at the available functions by clicking on the Formulas Ribbon.
Commonly Used Functions in Excel
Mean =AVERAGE(A:A)
Median =MEDIAN(A:A)
Standard deviation =STDEV.S(A:A)
Minimum =MIN(A:A)
Maximum =MAX(A:A)
Data Filter
One very useful function of Excel is the “Data Filter”
This is useful for segmenting data
Data Filter
E.g. “Week 1 Lecture Data.xlsx” >> RealEstate Worksheet
What would you do if you want to analyze only “new” properties?
Data Filter
Turn on the Filter
Click the arrow down
Leave “Yes” ticked
Data Filter
Notice the row numbers now
jump in sequence
This is because only “new”
properties appear
You can copy this section of
the data into another
worksheet to create
segmented data
Pivot Tables
Summarizing data can be done via the pivot table function
Insert > Pivot table (In Mac Data > Pivot table).
Select Existing Worksheet, then specify the cell location.
Pivot Tables
Drag & drop Beds Right click on Beds entries > Value Field Setting >
under Rows & Values. Summarize value by > Count; Show Values As > % of Grand Total
