Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1.

Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill

Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

CHAPTER

1
USING MICROSOFT EXCEL SPREADSHEETS

CHAPTER GOALS

After completing this chapter, you will be able to:

1. Understand why Excel is so useful as a statistical tool.

2. Define what is meant by a spreadsheet.

3. Enter data into a spreadsheet.

4. Create formulas and solve problems with a worksheet.

5. Edit data that is in a spreadsheet.

6. Use a spreadsheet to experiment and illustrate.

Introduction

Welcome to Basic Statistics Using Excel.

Excel is the most popular spreadsheet program in the world and has the capacity to handle a wide variety
of statistical applications. Most colleges have Excel on their campus computers; it is part of the Microsoft
Office package. You may have already had some exposure to Excel and used it for other applications.
You may even have Excel on your home computer.

Using Excel will enhance your ability to understand and apply statistical principles. It is the software
choice in the business world.

Basically, spreadsheets are used to help you with analysis of numerical data and to solve problems. In a
spreadsheet, you can enter data that is related, and see what the results are if you change that data. You
can create charts and graphs. You can run statistical analysis. Spreadsheets are used in businesses by
managers to assist in decision making.

This chapter is for those who have never used a spreadsheet or worksheet, or for those who want a review
of the basics.

1
 Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1. Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill
Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

Open Microsoft Excel. You may need to ask how the system you are using operates. A task pane opens
on the right side of the worksheet window, providing you with document options: Open a workbook, New
from existing workbook, and New from template. You may close the task pane to provide more
workspace on your screen by selecting View, Task Pane from the Menu bar.

The first row of your Microsoft Excel worksheet is called the Menu bar. The second and third rows are
called Tool bars. You will often be requested to select a button from either the Menu bar or the Tool bar.

As your mouse pointer rests on each button of the Tool bar, a short description is displayed just below
that button.

Creating a New Worksheet

If a blank worksheet does not appear, you will need to create a new worksheet.

To create a new worksheet select File, from the Menu bar. Select New. Or you may
select the button for a new page.

The worksheet consists of rows, columns and cells. Each individual rectangle is a cell. Each cell is
identified by it placement in the Column (A, B, C ...) and the Row (1, 2, 3 ...). Thus, the cell B3 would be
in the 2nd column and the 3rd row. The mouse pointer in Excel looks like an open plus sign. When
the pointer is on a cell, click the left mouse button and that cell becomes the active cell. The cell will
have a dark bordered box around it. You can also use the arrow keys: up, down, right, left, to move
around in the worksheet.

2
 Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1. Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill
Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

Minimize
Maximize
Exit Excel

Title bar
Main Menu bar
Standard Tool bar
Formatting Tool bar
Formula bar

Status bar

(Worksheet with cell B3 as active cell)

The data or information you key will show in the active cell and in the formula bar. When you press the
<Enter> key, your data is entered into the cell and the cell immediately below becomes the active cell.
Or you can point to another cell or use your arrow keys. To edit a cell, double click your mouse pointer
in that cell, and the cell can be edited. The mouse pointer will show as a large I instead of an open plus.
You may then edit the cell, without rekeying the entire contents.

You can select several cells at once to work with, called a range. A range is a rectangular group of cells.
To use your mouse, you would place your mouse pointer on the upper left cell of the range to be
highlighted, then click, hold and drag your mouse pointer to the lower right cell of the range, and then
release the mouse button. The first cell shows a white background, all other cells in the selected range
show a black background. A range is identified by its first and last cells with a colon in between.

1. Activate cell A1 by clicking on it, key Schools and press <Enter>.

2. Cell A2 should now be active. Key Roads. Key in the remaining data so that your
worksheet looks like the one on the next page. Use the incorrect spelling of Supplie in cell A4.

If you make an error, you can correct it by immediately selecting Edit from the Menu bar,
and selecting Undo, or you can simply click on the Undo button.

3
 Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1. Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill
Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

(Worksheet with range of cells B1:B4 selected)

To move text to a new position

1. Highlight the cells, click on the Cut button.

2. Select the new location by activating the cell in which you wish
the text to be located, click on the Paste button.

If you wish to copy text, follow the same procedures for moving text, but instead of the
Cut button, select the Copy button.

Excel allows you to check the spelling of the text in your entire workbook or just selected cells. However,
worksheets are often created using abbreviations which this feature may not recognize. If this happens
you can simply select Ignore.

1. To check the spelling of the whole workbook simply click on the Spelling button. A
dialogue box will appear.

Depending on the cell that is active when you select the Spelling button, you may receive
the following dialogue box. If you have not checked for spelling yet, then select Yes.

2. Click on Supplies and

select Change. Select OK.

4
 Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1. Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill
Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

To check a selected area, highlight the cell or cells you want Excel to check, click on the
Spelling button, and follow the same procedure as above.

You may create your worksheet in either portrait or landscape orientation by doing the following:

1. From the Menu bar, select File. Select Page Setup. A dialogue box appears with four tabs.

2. The Page tab should already be selected. You may select the radio button for Portrait or
Landscape. Select OK.

NOTE: As you work through this text, some illustrations may appear different than your screen.

5
 Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1. Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill
Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

Saving a Worksheet

To save a worksheet (file) do the following:

1. Select File, from the Menu bar. Select Save As.

2. Key in the desired file name in the File name text box, key Tax Dollars.

3. At the top of the dialog box, click on the down arrow at the right of the Save in: text box.
Click your mouse on 3 ½ Floppy (A:).

4. Click on Save.

Closing a Worksheet

To close a worksheet (file) do the following:

1. Select File, from the Menu bar. Select Close.

2. If no changes have been made since the last save, the file will close and the screen will be
blank.

3. If the current information has not been saved you may select Yes to save the changes, select
No if you do not want to save the changes, or select Cancel to go back to the current
worksheet.

After you close a worksheet, you need to create a new worksheet or retrieve an existing worksheet to
continue working.

6
 Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1. Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill
Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

Retrieving a Worksheet

1. Select File from the Menu bar. Select Open.

You may also open an existing document by selecting the Open icon on the Tool bar.

2. Verify the location of the file you wish to retrieve. You may have to change the selection in
the Look in: text box at the top of the active window. The arrow to the right of the text box
will allow you to access a pull down list of file location options.

3. Highlight the file that you wish to retrieve by placing your mouse curser over the file name
and click the left mouse button once.

If you do not see your file located in this folder, try selecting All Files from the Files of type: drop down
list at the bottom of the dialogue box.

4. Once the file is highlighted, select Open.

5. After making any changes, save and close the worksheet.

7
 Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1. Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill
Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

Using Excel to Solve Problems

Use a new worksheet to create formulas and solve problems. The following problem is an example of
how one can use the worksheet.

We are interested in finding the percentage of change in the U.S. Department of Labor’s projections of
Fast-Growing Occupations in the United States from 2000 to 2010.

Employment
Occupation 2000 2010
Computer support specialists 506,000 996,000
Computer system analysts 431,000 689,000
Personal home-care aids 414,000 672,000
Computer software engineers 389,000 760,000
Medical assistants 329,000 516,000
Dental assistants 234,000 320,000
Social service assistants 271,000 418,000
Fitness/aerobics trainers 158,000 222,000
Medical records technicians 136,000 202,000
Database administrators 106,000 176,000
Source: U.S. Department of Labor

NOTE: As you enter information on the Excel worksheet, start all formulas with an = sign to distinguish
a formula from text.

To enter this problem on your new worksheet, do the following.

1. Key the heading, Occupation in cell A1.

2. In cells A2 to A11, key in the occupations.

3. In cell A12, key in the word Total.

4.

8
 Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1. Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill
Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

Notice that the names of the occupations extend into column B. To widen and automatically
fit the column width, place the mouse pointer in the column headings row between columns A
and B. The mouse pointer changes to a thick, black plus sign. Double click the left mouse
button. The column automatically widens.

5. Key 2000 in cell B1 and 2010 in cell C1.

6. Fill in the amounts for 2000 in cells B2 to B11 and the amounts for 2010 in cells C2 to 11. Do
not enter the commas as you enter the amounts.

7. There are a couple of different ways to sum several cells. Make cell B12 the active cell. Key
=sum(b2:b11). Touch the <Enter> key. The sum of the cells now shows in cell B12.

8. Now highlight cells, C2 to C11. To do so, put your mouse arrow on cell C2, click
and drag down to cell C11. From the Tool bar, click on the AutoSum function button.
Excel automatically enters the sum of the highlighted cells immediately below.

9. In cell D1 key % change.

10. Make cell D2 the active cell. Key the formula =(c2-b2)/b2. Touch the <Enter> key. The
percent of change shows as a decimal number.

11. Make cell D2 the active cell. Put your mouse pointer on the lower right corner of the cell. It
will show a small black box called a handle. The mouse pointer on the handle will show as a
thick, black plus. Click your mouse button, hold and drag the mouse pointer down to cell
D11.

Cells D3 to D11 have automatically been filled in with the formula.

12. Highlight cells D2 to D11. From the Menu bar select Format. Select Cells. The Number
tab should already be selected. Under the Category list box, select Percentage. In the
Decimal places text box key 0 or click on the down arrow to display 0. Click on OK. The
amounts in column D now show as percentages instead of decimals.

9
 Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1. Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill
Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

Sometimes you want to rearrange the columns. If you want to show a graph of the percents of change
use columns A and D. To move the column D (% change) next to the column A (Country), do the
following.

13. Click your mouse pointer anywhere in column B.

14. From the Menu bar, select Insert. Select Columns.

The information in columns B through D have been shifted to the right creating a blank column, with the
width of column A.

15. Highlight cells E1 to E11.

16. From the Menu bar, select Edit. Select Cut.

17. Make cell B1 your active cell. From the Menu bar select Edit. Select Paste.
The columns with % change are now next to the column Country. You may also use the cut
and paste icons on your tool bar.

10
 Lind, et al: Basic Statistics 1. Using Microsoft Excel Text © The McGraw−Hill
Using Excel for Office XP, Spreadsheets Companies, 2005
12/e

Chapter 1

18. On the thick black plus sign between the column headings B and C, double click the left
mouse button to resize the column width of B.

You can also select non-adjacent columns, simply highlight one of the columns, hold down the <Ctrl>
key while highlighting another column. This can be done with as many as you wish.

Save your worksheet if you wish. Close your worksheet.

Exiting Excel

Select File from the Menu bar. Select Exit. This ends your Excel session.

11