Microsoft Excel is convenient for creating tables and making calculations. A workspace is a set of cells that can be filled with data. Subsequently – format, use for building graphs, charts, summary reports.
Working in Excel with tables for novice users may seem difficult at first glance. It differs significantly from the principles of creating tables in Word. But we'll start small: by creating and formatting a table. And at the end of the article, you will already understand that you cannot imagine a better tool for creating tables than Excel.
How to Create a Table in Excel for Dummies
Working with tables in Excel for dummies is not rushed. You can create a table in different ways, and for specific purposes, each method has its own advantages. Therefore, first let’s visually assess the situation.
Take a close look at the spreadsheet worksheet:
This is a set of cells in columns and rows. Essentially a table. Columns are indicated in Latin letters. Lines are numbers. If we print this sheet, we will get a blank page. Without any boundaries.
First let's learn how to work with cells, rows and columns.
How to select a column and row
To select the entire column, click on its name (Latin letter) with the left mouse button.
To select a line, use the line name (by number).
To select several columns or rows, left-click on the name, hold and drag.
To select a column using hot keys, place the cursor in any cell of the desired column - press Ctrl + spacebar. To select a line – Shift + spacebar.
How to change cell borders
If the information does not fit when filling out the table, you need to change the cell borders:
To change the width of columns and height of rows at once in a certain range, select an area, increase 1 column/row (move manually) - the size of all selected columns and rows will automatically change.
Note. To return to the previous size, you can click the “Cancel” button or the hotkey combination CTRL+Z. But it works when you do it right away. Later it won't help.
To return the lines to their original boundaries, open the tool menu: “Home” - “Format” and select “Auto-fit line height”
This method is not relevant for columns. Click “Format” - “Default Width”. Let's remember this number. Select any cell in the column whose borders need to be “returned”. Again, “Format” - “Column Width” - enter the indicator specified by the program (usually 8.43 - the number of characters in the Calibri font with a size of 11 points). OK.
How to insert a column or row
Select the column/row to the right/below the place where you want to insert the new range. That is, the column will appear to the left of the selected cell. And the line is higher.
Right-click and select “Insert” from the drop-down menu (or press the hotkey combination CTRL+SHIFT+"=").
Mark the “column” and click OK.
Advice. To quickly insert a column, select the column in the desired location and press CTRL+SHIFT+"=".
All these skills will come in handy when creating a table in Excel. We will have to expand the boundaries, add rows/columns as we work.
Step-by-step creation of a table with formulas
Column and row borders will now be visible when printing.
Using the Font menu, you can format Excel table data as you would in Word.
Change, for example, the font size, make the header “bold”. You can center the text, assign hyphens, etc.
How to create a table in Excel: step-by-step instructions
The simplest way to create tables is already known. But Excel has a more convenient option (in terms of subsequent formatting and working with data).
Let's make a “smart” (dynamic) table:
Note. You can take a different path - first select a range of cells, and then click the “Table” button.
Now enter the necessary data into the finished frame. If you need an additional column, place the cursor in the cell designated for the name. Enter the name and press ENTER. The range will automatically expand.
If you need to increase the number of lines, hook it in the lower right corner to the autofill marker and drag it down.
How to work with a table in Excel
With the release of new versions of the program, working with tables in Excel has become more interesting and dynamic. When a smart table is formed on a sheet, the “Working with Tables” - “Design” tool becomes available.
Here we can give the table a name and change its size.
Various styles are available, the ability to convert the table into a regular range or a summary report.
Features of dynamic MS Excel spreadsheets huge. Let's start with basic data entry and autofill skills:
If we click on the arrow to the right of each header subheading, we will get access to additional tools for working with table data.
Sometimes the user has to work with huge tables. To see the results, you need to scroll through more than one thousand lines. Deleting rows is not an option (the data will be needed later). But you can hide it. For this purpose, use numerical filters (picture above). Uncheck the boxes next to the values that should be hidden.
Start creating formulas and using built-in functions to perform calculations and solve problems.
Important: The calculated results of formulas and some Excel worksheet functions may differ slightly on computers running Windows with x86 or x86-64 architecture and computers running Windows RT with ARM architecture.
Create a formula that references values in other cells
View formula
Entering a formula containing a built-in function
Downloading the book "Textbook on formulas"
We have prepared for you a book Getting Started with Formulas, which is available for download. If you're new to Excel or even have some experience with Excel, this tutorial will help you become familiar with the most common formulas. Thanks to clear examples, you will be able to calculate the sum, quantity, average value and substitute data just as well as professionals.
Formula Details
To learn more about specific formula elements, review the relevant sections below.
Parts of an Excel formula
A formula can also contain one or more elements such as functions, links, operators And constants.
additional information
You can always ask a question from the Excel Tech Community, ask for help in the Answers community, or suggest a new feature or improvement to the website
In the second part of the Excel 2010 series for beginners, you will learn how to link table cells with mathematical formulas, add rows and columns to a ready-made table, learn about the AutoFill function, and much more.
Introduction
In the first part of the “Excel 2010 for Beginners” series, we got acquainted with the very basics of Excel, learning how to create regular tables in it. Strictly speaking, this is a simple matter and, of course, the capabilities of this program are much wider.
The main advantage of spreadsheets is that individual data cells can be linked together by mathematical formulas. That is, if the value of one of the interconnected cells changes, the data of the others will be recalculated automatically.
In this part, we will figure out what benefits such opportunities can bring using the example of the table of budget expenses that we have already created, for which we will have to learn how to create simple formulas. We will also get acquainted with the cell autofill function and learn how you can insert additional rows and columns into the table, as well as merge cells in it.
Perform basic arithmetic operations
In addition to creating regular tables, Excel can be used to perform arithmetic operations in them, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
To perform calculations in any table cell, you need to create inside it the simplest formula, which must always begin with an equal sign (=). To specify mathematical operations within a formula, ordinary arithmetic operators are used:
For example, let's imagine that we need to add two numbers - “12” and “7”. Place the mouse cursor in any cell and type the following expression: “=12+7”. When you have finished entering, press the “Enter” key and the cell will display the calculation result - “19”.
To find out what a cell actually contains - a formula or a number - you need to select it and look at the formula bar - the area located immediately above the column names. In our case, it just displays the formula that we just entered.
After carrying out all the operations, pay attention to the result of dividing the numbers 12 by 7, which is not an integer (1.714286) and contains quite a lot of digits after the decimal point. In most cases, such precision is not required, and such long numbers will only clutter the table.
To fix this, select the cell with the number for which you want to change the number of decimal places after the decimal point and on the tab home in Group Number select team Decrease bit depth. Each click on this button removes one character.
To the left of the team Decrease bit depth There is a button that performs the opposite operation - it increases the number of decimal places to display more accurate values.
Drawing up formulas
Now let's return to the budget table we created in the first part of this series.
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At the moment, it records monthly personal expenses for specific items. For example, you can find out how much was spent on food in February or on car maintenance in March. But the total monthly expenses are not indicated here, although these indicators are the most important for many. Let's correct this situation by adding the line “Monthly expenses” at the bottom of the table and calculate its values.
To calculate the total expense for January in cell B7, you can write the following expression: “=18250+5100+6250+2500+3300” and press Enter, after which you will see the result of the calculation. This is an example of using a simple formula, the compilation of which is no different from calculations on a calculator. Unless the equal sign is placed at the beginning of the expression, and not at the end.
Now imagine that you made a mistake when indicating the values of one or more expense items. In this case, you will have to adjust not only the data in the cells indicating expenses, but also the formula for calculating total expenses. Of course, this is very inconvenient and therefore in Excel, when creating formulas, not specific numerical values are often used, but cell addresses and ranges.
With this in mind, let's change our formula for calculating total monthly expenses.
In cell B7, enter an equal sign (=) and... Instead of manually entering the value of cell B2, left-click on it. After this, a dotted highlight frame will appear around the cell, which indicates that its value is included in the formula. Now enter the “+” sign and click on cell B3. Next, do the same with cells B4, B5 and B6, and then press the ENTER key, after which the same amount value will appear as in the first case.
Select cell B7 again and look at the formula bar. It can be seen that instead of numbers - cell values, the formula contains their addresses. This is a very important point, since we just built a formula not from specific numbers, but from cell values that can change over time. For example, if you now change the amount of expenses for purchasing things in January, then the entire monthly total expense will be recalculated automatically. Give it a try.
Now let's assume that you need to sum not five values, as in our example, but one hundred or two hundred. As you understand, using the above method of constructing formulas in this case is very inconvenient. In this case, it is better to use the special “AutoSum” button, which allows you to calculate the sum of several cells within one column or row. In Excel, you can calculate not only the sums of columns, but also rows, so we use it to calculate, for example, total food expenses for six months.
Place the cursor on an empty cell on the side of the desired line (in our case it is H2). Then click the button Sum on the bookmark home in Group Editing. Now, let's go back to the table and see what happened.
In the cell we selected, a formula appears with an interval of cells whose values need to be summed. At the same time, the dotted highlight frame appeared again. Only this time it frames not just one cell, but the entire range of cells, the sum of which needs to be calculated.
Now let's look at the formula itself. As before, the equals sign comes first, but this time it is followed by function“SUM” is a predefined formula that will add the values of the specified cells. Immediately after the function there are brackets located around the addresses of the cells whose values need to be summed, called formula argument. Please note that the formula does not indicate all the addresses of the cells being summed, but only the first and last ones. The colon between them indicates that range cells from B2 to G2.
After pressing Enter, the result will appear in the selected cell, but that’s all the button can do Sum don't end. Click on the arrow next to it and a list will open containing functions for calculating average values (Average), the number of data entered (Number), maximum (Maximum) and minimum (Minimum) values.
So, in our table we calculated the total expenses for January and the total expenses on food for six months. At the same time, they did this in two different ways - first using cell addresses in the formula, and then using functions and ranges. Now, it's time to finish the calculations for the remaining cells, calculating the total costs for the remaining months and expense items.
Autocomplete
To calculate the remaining amounts, we will use one remarkable feature of Excel, which is the ability to automate the process of filling cells with systematic data.
Sometimes in Excel you have to enter similar data of the same type in a certain sequence, for example, days of the week, dates, or row numbers. Remember, in the first part of this series, in the table header, we entered the name of the month in each column separately? In fact, it was completely unnecessary to enter this entire list manually, since the application can do it for you in many cases.
Let's erase all the month names in the header of our table, except for the first one. Now select the cell labeled “January” and move the mouse pointer to its lower right corner so that it takes the form of a cross called fill marker. Hold down the left mouse button and drag it to the right.
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A tooltip will appear on the screen, telling you the value the program is about to insert into the next cell. In our case, this is “February”. As you move the marker down, it will change to the names of other months, which will help you figure out where to stop. Once the button is released, the list will populate automatically.
Of course, Excel does not always correctly “understand” how to fill in subsequent cells, since the sequences can be quite diverse. Let's imagine that we need to fill a line with even numeric values: 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on. If we enter the number “2” and try to move the autofill marker to the right, it turns out that the program offers to insert the value “2” again both in the next and in other cells.
In this case, the application needs to provide a little more data. To do this, in the next cell on the right, enter the number “4”. Now select both filled cells and again move the cursor to the lower right corner of the selection area so that it takes the form of a selection marker. Moving the marker down, we see that the program has now understood our sequence and is showing the required values in the tooltips.
Thus, for complex sequences, before using autofill, you need to fill in several cells yourself so that Excel can correctly determine the general algorithm for calculating their values.
Now let's apply this useful program feature to our table, so that we can enter formulas manually for the remaining cells. First, select the cell with the amount already calculated (B7).
Now “hook” the cursor on the lower right corner of the square and drag the marker to the right to cell G7. After you release the key, the application itself will copy the formula into the marked cells, while automatically changing the addresses of the cells contained in the expression, substituting the correct values.
Moreover, if the marker is moved to the right, as in our case, or down, then the cells will be filled in ascending order, and to the left or up - in descending order.
There is also a way to fill a row using tape. Let's use it to calculate the cost amounts for all expense items (column H).
We select the range that should be filled, starting from the cell with the data already entered. Then on the tab home in Group Editing press the button Fill and select the filling direction.
Add rows, columns, and merge cells
To get more practice in writing formulas, let's expand our table and at the same time learn a few basic formatting operations. For example, let’s add income items to the expenditure side, and then calculate possible budget savings.
Let's assume that the revenue part of the table will be located on top of the expenditure part. To do this we will have to insert a few extra lines. As always, this can be done in two ways: using commands on the ribbon or in the context menu, which is faster and easier.
Right-click in any cell of the second row and select the command from the menu that opens Insert…, and then in the window - Add line.
After inserting a row, pay attention to the fact that by default it is inserted above the selected row and has the format (cell background color, size settings, text color, etc.) of the row located above it.
If you need to change the default formatting, immediately after pasting, click the button Add Options icon that automatically appears near the lower right corner of the selected cell and select the option you want.
Using a similar method, you can insert columns into the table that will be placed to the left of the selected one and individual cells.
By the way, if a row or column ends up in the wrong place after insertion, you can easily delete it. Right-click on any cell belonging to the object to be deleted and select the command from the menu that opens Delete. Finally, indicate what exactly you want to delete: a row, a column, or an individual cell.
On the ribbon, you can use the button for adding operations Insert located in the group Cells on the bookmark home, and to delete, the command of the same name in the same group.
In our case, we need to insert five new rows at the top of the table immediately after the header. To do this, you can repeat the adding operation several times, or you can, having completed it once, use the “F4” key, which repeats the most recent operation.
As a result, after inserting five horizontal rows into the top part of the table, we bring it to the following form:
We left the white unformatted rows in the table on purpose to separate the income, expenditure and total parts from each other by writing appropriate headings in them. But before we do that, we will learn one more operation in Excel - merging cells.
When several adjacent cells are combined, one is formed, which can occupy several columns or rows at once. In this case, the name of the merged cell becomes the address of the uppermost cell of the merged range. At any time, you can split a merged cell again, but you cannot split a cell that has never been merged.
When merging cells, only the data in the top left is saved, but the data in all other merged cells will be deleted. Remember this and do the merging first, and only then enter the information.
Let's return to our table. In order to write headings in white lines, we need only one cell, while now they consist of eight. Let's fix this. Select all eight cells of the second row of the table and on the tab home in Group Alignment click on the button Combine and place in the center.
After executing the command, all selected cells in the row will be combined into one large cell.
Next to the merge button there is an arrow, clicking on which will bring up a menu with additional commands that allow you to: merge cells without central alignment, merge entire groups of cells horizontally and vertically, and also cancel the merge.
After adding headers, as well as filling out the lines: salary, bonuses and monthly income, our table began to look like this:
Conclusion
In conclusion, let's calculate the last line of our table, using the knowledge gained in this article, the cell values of which will be calculated using the following formula. In the first month, the balance will be the normal difference between the income received for the month and the total expenses in it. But in the second month we will add the balance of the first to this difference, since we are calculating savings. Calculations for subsequent months will be carried out according to the same scheme - savings for the previous period will be added to the current monthly balance.
Now let's translate these calculations into formulas that Excel can understand. For January (cell B14) the formula is very simple and will look like this: “=B5-B12”. But for cell C14 (February), the expression can be written in two different ways: “=(B5-B12)+(C5-C12)” or “=B14+C5-C12”. In the first case, we again calculate the balance of the previous month and then add the balance of the current month to it, and in the second, the already calculated result for the previous month is included in the formula. Of course, using the second option to construct the formula in our case is much preferable. After all, if you follow the logic of the first option, then in the expression for the March calculation there will already be 6 cell addresses, in April - 8, in May - 10, and so on, and when using the second option there will always be three of them.
To fill the remaining cells from D14 to G14, we will use the ability to fill them automatically, just as we did in the case of amounts.
By the way, to check the value of the final savings for June, located in cell G14, in cell H14 you can display the difference between the total amount of monthly income (H5) and monthly expenses (H12). As you understand, they should be equal.
As can be seen from the latest calculations, in formulas you can use not only the addresses of adjacent cells, but also any others, regardless of their location in the document or belonging to a particular table. Moreover, you have the right to link cells located on different sheets of the document and even in different books, but we will talk about this in the next publication.
And here is our final table with the calculations performed:
Now, if you wish, you can continue filling it out yourself, inserting both additional items of expenses or income (rows) and adding new months (columns).
In the next article we will talk in more detail about functions, understand the concept of relative and absolute links, be sure to master several more useful elements of table editing, and much more.
In continuation, I will tell you how to work in Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet included in the Microsoft Office suite.
The same principles of operation that we will consider here are also suitable for the free WPS Office package, which was discussed in the previous lesson (if you do not have Microsoft Office on your computer).
There are a lot of sites on the Internet dedicated to working in Microsoft Excel. The capabilities of spreadsheets, which include Excel, are very large. Perhaps that is why, with the release in 1979 of the first such program, called VisiCalc, for the Apple II microcomputer, they began to be widely used not only for entertainment, but also for practical work with calculations, formulas, and finances.
In order to begin the first steps to understand the principle of working in Excel, I offer this lesson.
You can object to me - why do I need Excel for home calculations? The standard calculator that is in . If you add up two or three numbers, I agree with you. What is the advantage of spreadsheets, I will tell you.
If, while entering several numbers, we notice an error on the calculator, especially at the beginning of the entry, we need to erase everything that was typed before the error and start typing over. Here we can correct any value without affecting others; we can calculate many values with one coefficient, then changing only it with another. I hope I have convinced you that this is a very interesting program that is worth getting acquainted with.
Launching Microsoft Excel
To start the program, click the button – Start – All Programs – Microsoft Office – Microsoft Excel (if you have the free WPS Office package – Start – All Programs – WPS Office – WPS Spreadsheets).
In order to enlarge the image, click on the picture with the mouse, return - another click
The program window Fig. 1 opens. Just like Word, you can select several areas - they are marked with numbers.
- Tabs.
- Tab Tools.
- Sheet navigation area.
- Formula area.
- Columns.
- Lines.
- Page layout area.
- Image scale.
- Working area of the sheet.
- Book navigation area.
Now a little more detail.
Excel is called a spreadsheet because, at its core, it is a table with cells at the intersection of columns and rows. Each cell can contain different data. The data format can be:
- text
- numerical
- monetary
- time
- percentage
- boolean values
- formulas
Text, as a rule, is needed not for calculations, but for the user. In order for the data in a cell to become text, it is enough to put an apostrophe – ‘ at the beginning of the line. What comes after the apostrophe will be perceived as a line, or select the “Text” cell format. Fig.2 
Numbers are the main object on which calculations are performed. Fig.3 
Date and Time – Displays the date and time. You can perform calculations on dates. Fig.4 (different display formats) 
Boolean values can take two values – “True” and “False”. When used in formulas, different branches of calculations can be performed depending on the Boolean value. Fig.5 
Formulas in cells are needed directly for calculations. As a rule, in the cell where the formula is located, we see the result of the calculation; we will see the formula itself in the formula bar when we stand on this cell. The formula begins with the ‘=’ sign. For example, we want to add the number in cell A1 with the number in cell B1 and place the result in cell C1. We write the first number in cell A1, the second in B1, in cell C1 we write the formula “=A1+B1” (A and B on the English keyboard layout) and press. In cell C1 we see the result. We return the cursor to cell C1 and in the formula bar we see the formula. Fig.6 
By default, the cell format is general, depending on the entered value, the program tries to determine the value (except when we put an apostrophe (‘) or equal (=) at the beginning).
Numbers 5 and 6 in Fig. 1 indicate the columns and rows of our table. Each cell is uniquely identified by a column letter and row number. The cursor in Fig. 1 is in the upper left corner in cell A1 (displayed in the navigation area under the number 3), next to the right is B1, and from A1 next down is A2. Fig.7 
Example of working in Microsoft Excel
The easiest way to learn how to work in Excel is to learn by example. Let's calculate the rent for the month. I’ll say right away that the example is conditional, the tariffs and volumes of resources consumed are conditional.
Let's place the cursor on column A, Fig. 8, 
and click on it with the left mouse button. In the menu that opens, click on “Format Cells...”. In the next menu that opens, Fig. 9 
On the “Number” tab, select the “Text” item. In this column we will write the name of the services.
From the second line we write:
Electricity
Cold water
Solid waste removal
Heating
Our inscriptions go to column B. We place the cursor on the border between columns A and B, it turns into a dash with two arrows to the left and to the right. Press the left mouse button and, moving the border to the right, increase the width of column A in Fig. 10. 
With the cursor on column B, press the left mouse button and, moving to the right, select columns B, C, D. By clicking on the selected area with the right mouse button, Fig. 11, 
In the menu that opens, on the “Number” tab, select the “Numeric” format.
In cell B1 we write “Tariff”, in C1 “Volume”, D1 “Amount”, Fig. 12. 
In cell B2, the “Electricity” tariff, we enter the tariff, in cell C2 the volume, the number of kilowatts of electricity consumed.
In B3 the tariff for water, in C3 the volume, the number of cubic meters of water consumed.
In B4, the tariff for solid waste removal, in C4, the area of the apartment (if the tariff depends on the area, or the number of residents, if the tariff depends on the number of people).
In B5, the tariff is for thermal energy, in B5, the area of the apartment (if the tariff depends on the area).
Let's go to cell D2 in Fig. 13, 
write the formula “=B2*C2” and press. The result of Fig. 14 appears in cell D2. 
We return to cell D2 in Fig. 15. 
Move the cursor to the lower right corner of the cell where the dot is. The cursor turns into a cross. Press the left mouse button and drag the cursor down to cell D5. We copy the formulas from cell D2 to cell D5, and we immediately see the result in Fig. 16. 
In cell D2 we wrote the formula “=B2*C2”, if we go to cell D3 in Fig. 17, 
then we will see that when copying in the formula bar it changes to “=B3*C3”, in cell D4 there will be a formula “=B4*C4”, in D5, “=B5*C5”. These are relative links, more about absolute ones a little later.
We wrote the formula by hand. I'll show you another option for introducing the formula. Let's calculate the final result. Place the cursor in cell D6 in order to insert the total formula there. In the formula bar in Fig. 18, 
left-click on the function label, marked with the number 1, in the menu that opens, select the “SUM” function, marked with the number 2, at the bottom (highlighted with the number 3) there is a hint about what this function does. Next, click “OK”. The function arguments window in Fig. 19 opens, 
where by default the range of arguments for summation is proposed (numbers 1, 2). If the range suits us, click “OK”. As a result, we get the result in Fig. 20. 
You can save the book under any name. Next time, to find out the amount, just open it, enter the consumption volumes for the next month, and we will immediately get the result.
Absolute and relative links
What are absolute and relative links. We encountered relative links in the previous example. When we copied the formula, our cell addresses from the formula changed in accordance with the changes in the rows. A relative link is written as A1 or B5.
Now we will look at another example.
Let's type a list of fruits, price, weight, amount, discounted amount, discounted amount, discount.
Let's fill out the table in Fig. 21. 
For the amount in column D, we will type the sum formula and copy it as in the previous example. Let's put a discount in cell C2, let's say 15%. Now let's write a formula for the discount amount in cell F2. If we write “=D2*G2”, then when copying in the 3rd line of formulas it will be “=D3*G3”, and the discount percentage is in cell “G2”, and in cell “G3” is empty. In order for the formula to copy when copying, the reference remains to cell “G2” and there is absolute addressing.
To do this, place a dollar sign in front of the column and row names. It looks like this – “$G$2”. Let’s try to write the formula “=D2*$G$2” like this and then copy Fig. 22. 
Place the cursor in cell F3 (marked with number 1) Fig. 23, 
in the formula bar we see the formula “=D3*$G$2” (marked with the number 2), i.e. what we need. Well, now we can write a formula for the amount with a discount “=D2-D2*$G$2” (number 2) Fig. 23. 
There is another type of links - mixed. When the dollar sign appears only before the column name or only before the row name.
A little trick. Sometimes it is necessary to number a list in Microsoft Excel. There are several ways to do this. I'll show you one of them. Let us have a list in Fig. 24. 
Right-click on column A and select “Insert” from the menu that opens. Select the new column in Fig. 27 and set the alignment to the middle and alignment to the center. In cell A1 we put the number 1, in A2 we put the number 2. Select these two cells and place the cursor in the lower left corner of Fig. 25 
(to the point), the cursor turns into a cross, and drag down to the end of the list. Release the mouse button - the list is numbered Fig. 29 
This data is enough to start working in Microsoft Excel. This is the purpose of this lesson.
Anyone who uses a computer in their daily work has, in one way or another, encountered the Excel office application, which is part of the standard Microsoft Office package. It is available in any version of the package. And quite often, when starting to get acquainted with the program, many users wonder whether they can use Excel on their own?
What is Excel?
First, let's define what Excel is and what this application is needed for. Many people have probably heard that the program is a spreadsheet editor, but the principles of its operation are fundamentally different from the same tables created in Word.
If in Word a table is more of an element in which a text or table is displayed, then a sheet with an Excel table is, in fact, a unified mathematical machine that is capable of performing a wide variety of calculations based on specified data types and formulas by which this or that mathematical or algebraic operation.
How to learn to work in Excel on your own and is it possible to do it?
As the heroine of the film “Office Romance” said, you can teach a hare to smoke. In principle, nothing is impossible. Let's try to understand the basic principles of the application's functioning and focus on understanding its main capabilities.
Of course, reviews from people who understand the specifics of the application say that you can, say, download some tutorial on how to work in Excel, however, as practice shows, and especially the comments of novice users, such materials are very often presented in a too abstruse form, and It can be quite difficult to figure out.
It seems that the best training option would be to study the basic capabilities of the program, and then apply them, so to speak, “by scientific poking.” It goes without saying that you first need to consider the basic functional elements of Microsoft Excel (the program lessons indicate exactly this) in order to get a complete picture of the principles of operation.
Key elements to pay attention to
The very first thing the user pays attention to when launching the application is a sheet in the form of a table, in which cells are located, numbered in different ways, depending on the version of the application itself. In earlier versions, columns were designated by letters, and rows by numbers and numbers. In other releases, all markings are presented exclusively in digital form.
What is it for? Yes, only so that it is always possible to determine the cell number for specifying a certain calculation operation, similar to how coordinates are specified in a two-dimensional system for a point. Later it will be clear how to work with them.
Another important component is the formula bar - a special field with an “f x” icon on the left. This is where all operations are specified. At the same time, the mathematical operations themselves are designated in exactly the same way as is customary in the international classification (equal sign “=”, multiplication “*” division “/”, etc.). Trigonometric quantities also correspond to international notations (sin, cos, tg, etc.). But this is the simplest thing. More complex operations will have to be mastered with the help of the help system or specific examples, since some formulas may look quite specific (exponential, logarithmic, tensor, matrix, etc.).
At the top, as in other office programs, there is the main panel and the main menu sections with the main operation items and quick access buttons to a particular function.
and simple operations with them
Consideration of the question is impossible without a key understanding of the types of data entered in table cells. Let us immediately note that after entering some information, you can press the enter button, the Esc key, or simply move the rectangle from the desired cell to another - the data will be saved. Editing a cell is done by double-clicking or pressing the F2 key, and upon completion of data entry, saving occurs only by pressing the Enter key.
Now a few words about what can be entered in each cell. The format menu is called up by right-clicking on the active cell. On the left there is a special column indicating the data type (general, numeric, text, percentage, date, etc.). If the general format is selected, the program, roughly speaking, itself determines what exactly the entered value looks like (for example, if you enter 01/01/16, the date January 1, 2016 will be recognized).
When entering a number, you can also use an indication of the number of decimal places (by default, one character is displayed, although when entering two, the program simply rounds the visible value, although the true value does not change).
When using, say, a text data type, whatever the user types will be displayed exactly as typed on the keyboard, without modification.
Here's what's interesting: if you hover the cursor over the selected cell, a cross will appear in the lower right corner, by pulling it while holding down the left mouse button, you can copy the data to the cells following the desired one in order. But the data will change. If we take the same date example, the next value would be January 2, and so on. This type of copying can be useful when specifying the same formula for different cells (sometimes even with cross calculations).
When it comes to formulas, for the simplest operations you can use a two-pronged approach. For example, for the sum of cells A1 and B1, which must be calculated in cell C1, you need to place the rectangle in the C1 field and specify the calculation using the formula “=A1+B1”. You can do it differently by setting the equality “=SUM(A1:B1)” (this method is more used for large gaps between cells, although you can use the automatic sum function, as well as the English version of the SUM command).
Excel program: how to work with Excel sheets
When working with sheets, you can perform many actions: add sheets, change their names, delete unnecessary ones, etc. But the most important thing is that any cells located on different sheets can be interconnected by certain formulas (especially when large amounts of information of different types are entered).
How to learn to work in Excel on your own in terms of use and calculations? It's not that simple here. As reviews from users who have mastered this spreadsheet editor show, it will be quite difficult to do this without outside help. You should at least read the help system of the program itself. The simplest way is to enter cells in the same formula by selecting them (this can be done both on one sheet and on different ones. Again, if you enter the sum of several fields, you can write “=SUM”, and then simply select one by one while holding down the Ctrl key the necessary cells.But this is the most primitive example.
Additional features
But in the program you can not only create tables with various types of data. Based on them, in a couple of seconds you can build all kinds of graphs and diagrams by specifying either a selected range of cells for automatic construction, or specifying it manually when entering the corresponding menu.
In addition, the program has the ability to use special add-ons and executable scripts based on Visual Basic. You can insert any objects in the form of graphics, video, audio or anything else. In general, there are enough opportunities. And here only a small fraction of everything that this unique program is capable of is touched upon.
What can I say, with the right approach, it can calculate matrices, solve all kinds of equations of any complexity, find, create databases and connect them with other applications like Microsoft Access and much more - you just can’t list it all.
Bottom line
Now, it’s probably already clear that the question of how to learn to work in Excel on your own is not so easy to consider. Of course, if you master the basic principles of working in the editor, setting the simplest operations will not be difficult. User reviews indicate that you can learn this in a maximum of a week. But if you need to use more complex calculations, and even more so, work with reference to databases, no matter how much anyone wants it, you simply cannot do without special literature or courses. Moreover, it is very likely that you will even have to improve your knowledge of algebra and geometry from the school course. Without this, you can’t even dream of fully using the spreadsheet editor.
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