Excel Basics- What is Excel ? How to use Formulas in Excel?

EXCEL-INTRODUCTION

“MICROSOFT EXCEL OR EXCEL IS THE NAME GIVEN TO THE SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE PROVIDED BY MICROSOFT” which comes bundled with the MICROSOFT OFFICE SUITE.

Excel is one of the most important component of the OFFICE SUITE.

SPREADSHEET OR EXCEL IS A SOFTWARE WHICH PROVIDES CALCULATION TOOLS TO MAKE OUR REPORT-MAKING EASIER. IT PROVIDES MANY FUNCTIONS, FORMULAS, TABLES, CHARTS ETC. TO ANALYZE THE DATA WITHIN MINUTES.

MS EXCEL HAVE GREAT FEATURES SUCH AS WHAT-IF ANALYSIS, PIVOT TABLES, PIVOT CHARTS, GRAPHS, VISUAL BASIC FOR APPLICATION PROGRAMMING FOR EXCEL ETC. WHICH HELPS PEOPLE TO SOLVE CALCULATION PROBLEMS.

MICROSOFT EXCEL HAS ALL THE FUNCTIONS OF A STANDARD SPREADSHEET SOFTWARES AND A GRID OF ROWS AND COLUMNS WHERE THE DATA IS ENTERED AND OPERATIONS ARE DONE ON IT.

Microsoft Excel is still an undisputed leader in the SPREADSHEET WORLD.

LEARN VARIOUS EXCEL FUNCTIONALITIES HERE.

IMPORTANCE OF MICROSOFT EXCEL IN BUSINESS

MICROSOFT EXCEL have set the GOLD STANDARD in the market of spreadsheet softwares.

In these times, EXCEL is no more a specialization but an application which is considered to be a basic requirement for many jobs and businesses to grow. No business can do well if it doesn’t take care of its finances well. Excel helps the businesses in this area as it has got plenty of functions already built for financial services. In addition to this, statistical, engineering, maths, text and so many other formulas are there.

For the matter of fact, EXCEL 2016 has more than 480 built in functions for the user to get the advantage of this resource.

Excel works on the principle of

” CREATE ONCE AND REPEAT FOREVER “

While working with Excel, you need to strive only once to get the result for one of the samples and it takes just seconds to replicate the formula to thousands of cells without any fail or problem.

This is how EXCEL has become so important to keep records of business.

In addition to this, data analytical jobs can’t be done without a good knowledge of Excel. There are tools to analyze the data within minutes.

Not only this, you can plan household expenses too in the Excel.So we can say that now EXCEL is not a profession specific application but a day to day need which makes our work easier.

HISTORY OF MICROSOFT EXCEL

It all started in 1982 when MICROSOFT launched a program called Multiplan which became very popular. It was launched to compete against VISICALC and LOTUS 1-2-3 which were very popular at that time. It was launched for various available platforms at those times but couldn’t be very popular.

So , in 1985 MICROSOFT again launched the EXCEL 1.0 for MAC. Later in 1987, the first version of EXCEL was launched for PC/windows as EXCEL 2.0. Its worth looking at how the first Excel was.

EXCEL-HISTORY-EXCEL-2.0 — EXCEL 2.0 SCREENSHOT (SOURCE:https://winworldpc.com/product/microsoft-excel)

That was the start and Excel has kept itself at the top by introducing very innovative and great GUI for the users. Every 2 to 3 years MICROSOFT releases a new version. Let us have a list of versions and release year.

Year	Name	Version
1987	Excel 2.0	2
1990	Excel 3.0	3
1992	Excel 4.0	4
1993	Excel 5.0	5
1995	Excel 95	7
1997	Excel 97	8
2000	Excel 2000	9
2002	Excel 2002	10
2003	Excel 2003	11
2007	Excel 2007	12
2010	Excel 2010	14
2013	Excel 2013	15
2016 2019	Excel 2016 OFFICE 365(2019)	16

HOW TO USE FORMULA IN EXCEL?

Let us become familiar with the layout of the Excel first.

Any spreadsheet based program (Excel or Open Excel) comprises of cells (where values are put) and have address location of row and columns, from which we recognize them.

Look at the pic for better understanding.

This is the layout of the EXCEL. The address is determined by the combination of row and column by mentioning the column name first which is a alphabetical letter followed by the row number. e.g. A1, A2, D4 etc.

DIFFERENT AREAS OF MICROSOFT EXCEL SCREEN

DIFFERENT AREAS OF EXCEL SCREEN ARE SHOWN BELOW.

TABS: Tabs are like pages. Every tab you click, a new group of controlling buttons appear. Tabs are grouped to make it easier for the user to find the relevant control. Suppose we want to insert something, then we’ll click on INSERT TAB and it’ll show us the functionalities associated with inserting. There are many tabs such as HOME, INSERT, PAGE LAYOUT, FORMULAS, DATA, REVIEW, VIEW, DEVELOPER AND HELP.

RIBBON CONTROLS: The upper ribbon like area containing the controls has been named as RIBBON since MS OFFICE 2007.

SELECTED CELL: The name or address of the SELECTED CELL is shown here.

FORMULA BAR: The space made for putting the formula is known as FORMULA BAR.

CELLS: CELLS are the small portions of the grid where we enter the data and manipulate it.

For any formula, the statement will start with an “=”.

STEPS TO USE A FORMULA IN EXCEL

For the reference, look at the animated picture below to help you understand better.

1.Move the cursor (The active cell location) to the cell in which you want the result.

2. Start the formula with “=” and put the formula statement after that.

3. If you want to put any value, just type the digits or if you want to change the value later on for different cases, just put the location in the formula.

ANIMATED EXAMPLE OF USING FORMULA

EXPLANATION:

Two numbers are put in cell D5 and E5.

We intend to sum the numbers and ( ” is not part of the formula).

PUT IN F5 THE FOLLOWING FORMULA

=D5+E5

Press ENTER and the result will be shown.

The process is shown in the animated picture just above this post.

GENERALIZING THE PROCESS OF USING FORMULA IN EXCEL

Using the formula in excel is just like ALGEBRA. In algebra, we have different variables like X OR Y.

Similarly, here we use the CELL ADDRESS as the variables and any mathematical operation can be applied on the cell addresses.

Absolute values(The value itself like 12, 45, 3234 etc.) can also be put for the calculations but it is not an advisable way of using Excel as every single time the values need to be changed.

The following example shows the use of explicitly declared value usage in the formulas.

WHAT IS MICROSOFT EXCEL? HOW TO USE FORMULA IN EXCEL?