Excel lesson 2:

Bring up one of the previous spreadsheets (Assess)

Starting a new spreadsheet (workbook):

New- spreadsheet-open or

Modify existing and do a “save as”, give it a new name, and delete what’s there

Doing math (having Excel do math for you):

Addition:

Add 4 and 3 on the calculator. Notice everything you type in, including the “=”.

Now try typing the exact same thing into an Excel location. Does it work? Do you know why not? Here is a very important difference between using Excel and using the calculator: in Excel, the “+: goes at the beginning, not the end. Type = 3 + 4 and hit the “enter” key. The “enter” key is important- Excel won’t remember what you’ve types in until you hit the enter key.

Click in the next location below and type the dame expression with/without (do the reverse of what student did) spaces before and after the “+” and between the “=” and the first number. Do spaces matter?

Now put parentheses (explain how to type them if necessary) around the expression. The “=” still comes first, before the parentheses: = (4 + 3). Hit the enter key. Are parentheses okay to use?

Now we’ve answered some questions that people sometimes have about how it’s okay to type things in Excel. So now I’d like to know: can we use Excel for adding a whole list of numbers? Think about how you’d do this on the calculator (try doing on calculator), and click on the next location and type this in (give student a list of numbers if necessary).

= 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1

Can we add a whole list of numbers at once in Excel? Does the order of the numbers matter- that is, if we did 1 + 2 + … would we get the same answer?

So now, do you know your (dad’s/mom’s) age? Can you have Excel add your age and your parent’s age? (Assess)

Subtraction:

Subtract three from four.

Subtract 265 from 487.

Can we subtract more than one number from a number? Try 12-3-4.

Subtract your age from your (mom’s/dad’s) (Assess).

Does the order the numbers are in matter when we have Excel do subtraction?

Combining adding and subtracting:

Take the year (2002), subtract your (mom’s/dad’s) age, and add two. Does this work?

(Give student another expression combining addition & subtraction to determine how to write).

Multiplication:

Here’s another funny thing about Excel (and other computer applications). When you do multiplication on the calculator, you use “x”. But in Excel, we use the “*” – shift eight- to tell Excel to do multiplication.

So now, tell Excel to multiply 4 by three.

Does the order matter in multiplication?

Can we multiply more than two numbers? Try multiplying 3 by 4 by 2.

(Try the same thing with division, noting that the “/” is used for division.)

Order of operations:

(Give student an expression in which the order of operations makes a difference).

What do you think the result will be?

Try it in Excel.

Why did you get a different result?

(Discuss order of operations. Have students list the arithmetic operators in the spreadsheet, with the ones that will be evaluated first listed first. Look at a few more expressions in which order of operation and operator priorities is a factor, and try guessing the result. Check each in Excel. Try adding parentheses. What effect do parentheses have? Where should they go in the list of operators?)

Save the worksheet that you’ve done the arithmetic in. Choose a name for it, and make sure it is saved to your folder.