Excel Lesson 3

Cell Names:

Start Excel.

Look at the letters going across the top, and the numbers going down the left side. Each “cell” or little box in Excel has a name, and you use the letters and numbers to give you the name, such as A1 in the top left corner andA2 underneath it.

Open the file “names1.xls” in your Excel folder (previously put there by instructor).

Click on cell A10.

Click on cell B5.

Type an asterisk (*- shift and eight keys) in cell C1.

Tell what is in C5.

Open the file “names2.xls” in your Excel folder. Some of the cells have their names written in them. Fill in the names of the cells that are missing, for the cells in the first ten rows and the first ten columns. Save the file. You can open it up and look at it if you have trouble remembering the names of the cells later on.

Open the file “names3.xls” and follow the instructions. (The tricky part is getting them to insert an “*” rather than just clicking on the cell or writing in the cell name. If they follow the instructions and get the names correctly, they’ll end up with a large uppercase letter, the first letter of their name. A different names3 file is needed for each one).

(For anyone who finds this really easy- possibly Jeremy or Alex- an optional exercise is to ask them to make their own “initial puzzle” in Excel. Tell them to think of someone, parent or friend, and come up with a set of instructions for making that person’s initial. They will probably need to do the initial first. Then, they should save the file.)

Using cell names to do arithmetic:

Think of three numbers that you would like to add up (encourage small numbers). Type them in locations A1, A2, and A3. In location A4, type an arithmetic expression for adding up the numbers, and hit ENTER. If your numbers were 1, 2, and 3, you would type =1+2+3 in cell A4.

Now, suppose you decide to change one of your numbers. The number in A1 is going to be 10 instead of whatever you typed in. What do you have to change in A4 so that you still have the correct total?

It would be nice to type something in A4 that would work for finding the sum of the numbers, and wouldn’t have to be retyped, even if the numbers change. We can do this by using the cell names instead of the actual numbers in the cells.

Retype your expression in A4. Instead of using the number that is in A1, type A1. Do the same for A2 and A3. Hit ENTER.

Now, change one of the original numbers to some other number and hit ENTER. Watch what happens to the total. Did it change? Is it correct? Try changing another number and watch the total change.

Now, open up “names4.xls”. Use cell names to add up the numbers in A1, A2, and A3. Your sum should be in A4.

Change the number 3 in A3 to 5 and hit ENTER. Do you still have the correct sum?

Now, add up the numbers in the second column, using cell names, putting the sum in B4.

Now, add up the numbers in the third column, using cell names, putting the sum in C4.

Now, we will do something a little different. Add up the numbers in the first ROW- A1, B1, and C1’s numbers- and put the sum in D1.

Do the same thing for the second and third rows.

Using Functions:

Now, we’re going to learn another way to write what you just did. This can sometime be shorter to write. Go back to A4, where you have the sum of the cells A1, A2, and A3. Replace what you have with =sum(a1..a3) and hit ENTER. Do you still have the correct sum?

Click in the cell and take a look at what you wrote. =sum is a function for finding the sum. You can use it if the numbers you want to add up are NEXT TO EACH OTHER, either down or across. The two numbers you put in are the first and last of the list of numbers you want to add.

Rewrite what is in B4. Try using =sum. Here is a shortcut: After the type the “(“, click in B1, hold the mouse button down, and go all the way to B3 before you let the mouse button up. Excel will write in the cell names for you as you do this.

Rewrite what is in C4 using =sum.

Save the file, and exit from Excel.