Excel terminology and components
Excel has its own terminology for its components, which new users may not
immediately find understandable. Some of these terms and components
include the following:
Cell. A user enters data into a cell, which is the intersection of a column
and row.
Cell reference. This is the set of coordinates where a cell is located. Rows
are horizontal and numbered whereas columns are vertical and assigned a
letter.
Active cell. This is the currently selected cell, outlined by a green box.
Workbook. This is an Excel file that contains one or more worksheets.
Worksheet. These are the different documents nested within a Workbook.
Worksheet tab. These are the tabs at the bottom left of the spreadsheet.
Column and row headings. These are the numbered and lettered cells
located just outside of the columns and rows. Selecting a header highlights
the entire row or column.
Formula. Formulas are mathematical equations, cell references or
functions that can be placed inside a cell to produce a value. Formulas
must start with an equal "=" sign.
Formula bar. This is the long input bar that is used to enter values or
formulas in cells. It is located at the top of the worksheet, next to the "fx"
label.
Address bar. This bar located to the left of the formula bar shows the
number and letter coordinates of an active cell.
Filter. These are rules a user can employ to select what rows in a
worksheet to display. This option is located on the top right of the home bar
under "Sort & Filter." An auto filter option can be selected to show rows
that match specific values.
AutoFill. This feature enables users to copy data to more than one cell
automatically. With two or more cells in a series, a user can select both
cells and drag the bottom right corner down to autofill the rest of the cells.
AutoSum. This feature enables users to add multiple values. Users can
select the cells they want to add and press the Alt and Equal keys. There is
also a button to enable this feature on the top right of the home page,
above "Fill" and to the left of "Sort & Filter."
PivotTable. This data summarization tool sorts and calculates data
automatically. This is located under the insert tab on the far left.
PivotChart. This chart acts as a visual aid to the PivotTable, providing
graph representations of the data. It is located under the middle of the
insert page, next to maps.
Source data. This is the information that is used to create a PivotTable.
Advanced Excel capabilities
More advanced tools in Excel include the following:
TREND function. This tool is used to calculate linear trend lines through a
set of Y or X values. It can be used for time series trend analysis or
projecting future trends. Trendlines can be used on charts.
VLOOKUP. The Vertical Lookup, or VLOOKUP function, can be used to
search for values in a larger data set and pull that data into a new table.
VLOOKUP is a cell input command that looks like =VLOOKUP(). The
parentheses include the data the user wants to look up, where to look for it,
the column number with the value to return; or optionally, the user can
specify an Approximate or Exact match indicated by True or False.
Table Array. This is a combination of two or more tables with data and
values linked and related to one another. This is part of VLOOKUP.
Col_index_num. Another value when creating a table array that specifies
the column from where data is being pulled.
Range_lookup. This value in VLOOKUP provides information closest to
what a user wants to find when nothing matches other variables. This is
represented by a true or false label. False gives the exact value a user is
looking for and True gives results from a variable data range.
MAX and MIN functions. These functions provide the maximum and
minimum values from selected data sets. MAX is used to find the
maximum value in a function tab and MIN is used to find the minimum
value.
AND function. This function has more than one criteria set when
searching variables. If a variable matches the criteria, the value will be
returned as true; if not, it will be returned as false. The input for the function
should look like this: =AND (logical1, [logical2], ...).
Additional functions for use in Excel include subtract, multiply, divide, count,
median, concatenate and other logical functions similar to AND, such as OR.
