Working with Numbers: Excel 97 - 2003
 Project 1: Introduction

Did you want Working with Numbers: 2007,2010,2013,2016  or español

Project Objectives

• Learn what a spreadsheet is
• Open Excel
• Open an existing workbook
• Learn the parts of the Excel window
• Learn the toolbars, their buttons, and what they do
• Learn to move around in a workbook and on a worksheet
• Use views: Normal, Page Break Preview, Print Preview, Split, Frozen panes
• Select parts of a sheet
• Use AutoSum, Sort, the Chart Wizard
• Format numbers with the toolbar buttons

What is a spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet is basically a document which has been divided into rows and columns.

Excel and its fellow spreadsheet applications are designed to ease the management of numbers and calculations. Various menu commands and buttons make it easy to arrange and format columns of numbers and to calculate totals, averages, percentages, budgets, and complex financial and scientific formulas.

The look of a spreadsheet application comes from the account ledgers that have been used to keep records for centuries. Ledger pages are lined off into rows and columns to record such things as items in inventory, income and expenses, debits and credits. The biggest advantage of a computer-based spreadsheet over these paper ledgers is the ability to update totals and other calculations automatically as you enter new data.

Before you can open a real spreadsheet and see for yourself how this works, you need to learn your way around the Excel window a bit.  So off we go to look at the Excel interface.

In the Introduction lessons you will work with an existing document to learn your way around the Excel interface and to see how the basic spreadsheet tasks work.

~~  1 Cor. 10:31 ...whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. ~~

Last updated: 02 May 2012