CHAPTER 3 – FORMATTING SPREADSHEETS
Centering the headings and titles
Formatting the Font
Formatting figures as currency
Adding Borders
Saving the worksheet
Making a second copy
Closing the worksheet
Exercises
Opening an existing worksheet
The Undo function
Resizing columns
Printing the worksheet
Exercises

CHAPTER 4 – CHARTS
Building a simple chart
The chart wizard
Step 1 Chart Type
Step 2 Chart Source Data
Step 3 Chart Option
Step 4 Chart Location
Resizing and moving the chart
Changing the chart type
The completed worksheet
Printing the chart and worksheet
Changing the page setup
Saving the worksheet
Deleting the chart
Exercises

GLOSSARY

What is a spreadsheet?
At this moment there is someone in the world who is adding up a list of numbers. In China they invented the abacus, but it was not until the 1950s that mechanical calculators were developed to help total these lists of numbers. In the 1970s electronic calculators took over from the mechanical ones. These still had a major flaw in that once you had added the numbers you could not check that you had entered the numbers correctly. This was solved by developing calculators with printers, which allowed the operator to check the entered values. But unfortunately if an error was found then all the numbers had to be re-entered.

With the advent of the personal computers a spreadsheet program was developed. This allows the operator to enter numbers and equations into cells. The operator can visually check the numbers and change any that are incorrect. Totals are automatically recalculated.

When the uses of spreadsheets became known every accountant in the world wanted one, and from the records of sales nearly all them obtained one.

Excel 2000 is an industry standard spreadsheet. It does lots of fancy things, but you need to understand the basics of spreadsheets.

Example

quantity	price	total
1	1.54	1.54
1	0.90	0.90
2	3.10	6.20
2.6	3.99	10.37
19.01

The spreadsheet enters quantity and price calculating total and a grand total.

The computer allows you to set up the spreadsheet with equations in the total column, and then enter the quantity and price. If the price for the last item was 3.95, then all you have to do is re-enter that number and the totals should be recalculated.

quantity	price	total
1	1.54	1.54
1	0.90	0.90
2	3.10	6.20
2.6	3.95	10.27
18.91

What’s covered in this book
Microsoft Excel is one of the most commonly used spreadsheet packages available today. Excel provides the ability to perform sophisticated calculations, format reports, create charts, and even provides a simple database facility.

This book is divided into four chapters each covering distinct subject areas and is intended as an introduction to the major tools that Excel provides. A brief outline of the topics covered in each chapter is given below.

Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the concept of a spreadsheet.
Chapter 2 looks at developing a simple spreadsheet. Copying of equations with relative and absolute addresses is covered.
Chapter 3 describes how to format the spreadsheet ready for printing.
Chapter 4 addresses charts. The exercises lead you through creating charts using the chart wizard, and modifying existing charts. The idea of using charts in reports is developed. Every chapter includes a step-by-step guide through the functions covered and the ideas are reinforced with exercises.

Accessing sample and test files
The files needed for these exercises are in a folder pcskills .

Acknowledgments
The original manual was written by Karen McChesney , Steve Skillcorn and staff at Auckland University.

The manual has been rewritten by staff in the Department of Information Technology at the Central Institute of Technology.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Companies, names and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of the authors.

The authors do not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information contained in the text and are not responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained from use of such information.

Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access and Microsoft Visual Basic are acknowledged as trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

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