Module No. -5

Entering Data in Worksheet:

Entering Data in a Cell:

The data can only be entered in the active cell, so following are the steps that

have to be performed for entering the data into a cell.

(a) Make the cell active, in which you want to enter the data, by moving the cell

pointer to the desired cell.

(b) Enter the data, using keyboard. Note that when you key-in the data then it gets

entered in formula bar, a copy of it gets displayed in the current cell also. Any

changes that you make in the data will have to be made in the formula bar.

(c) Press Enter or click the tick mark button, which appears in the Formula bar.

Basically there are two types of entries, which can be made in any cell. They

are categorized as follows:

(a) Constants

(b) Formula

(a) Constants:

Constants can be defined as data, whose values do not change, unless you

physically change them yourself. For example, if you write "12500" in cell B1 then

the value "12500" will be treated as constant. Similarly if you write “Sales” in cell D1

then the text "Sales" will be treated as constant. Constant entries can further be

classified into four categories as follows:

i. Numbers

ii. Text

iii. Date

iv. Time

(i) Entering Numbers - Numbers are the basic data for any worksheet. They are

often referred to as constant value or simply value. Any valid number is a combination

of ten digits i.e. from 0 to 9 and few special characters like + - ( ) /

$ % etc.

Excel supports negative, commas, dollar signs and scientific notations. For

Example, some valid constant numbers are: 159, 168.89, 10 e 6, $750, -188, and

1,302. All the numbers that you enter, by default, get right aligned in the cell.

(ii) Entering Text - Text is generally used to put the labels so that the data of a row or

column could be identified. Any data, which is neither number, nor date or time is

treated as Text. For example, "JAN", "FEB", "Lucknow" etc. A cell can hold up to

255 characters.

The text that you enter in the cell always gets left aligned in the cell.

(iii) Date and Time – The date and time can be entered as independent entities.

(b) Formula:

Formula is a function, which comprises of constant values, function and

mathematical operators. The basic objective of defining the formula is to calculate the

values automatically. Mostly formulae are defined to manipulate numerical values but

some times they are utilized to manipulate date, time and text also.

For example (A1+B1)*60 is a valid formula, which instructs Excel to add the

values in cell A1 and cell B1 and then multiply it by 60. If we enter 5 in A1 and 6 in

cell B1 then Excel interprets the formula as (6+5)*60 which results in 660. In fact, this

formula has to be entered as =(A1+B1)*60. The formula that you enter in Excel can

be up to 255 characters long.

Excel formula can be classified into three categories:

(a) Numeric Formula

(b) Logical Formula

(c) Text Formula

(a) Numeric Formula - Numeric formulae are created for performing arithmetic

operations on cell values. A formula that uses arithmetic operators will be categorized

as numeric formula. The arithmetic operators are +, -, *, /, %, and ^.

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For example, Following are valid numerical formula:

(a) =(A1+B1+C1)

(b) =(B1+C1)

(c) =(B1+C1)-D1

(d) =(A1+B1)*10%

(e) =(3^2)+B1

(b) Logical Formula - Logical formulae are the formulae that are formed for

performing comparison operations. The result of comparison is displayed as TRUE or

FALSE. Any formula that contains logical operators (< <= > >= = <>) is termed as

logical formula.

For Example, say the cell B1 contains the value 500

and the cell A1 contains 200 then following logical

formula will have results as displayed below:Formula Result

=(B1<A1) TRUE=(B1>A1) FALSE=(B1=A1) FALSE

=(B1<>A1) TRUE

(d) Text Formula - Text formulae are written to join two or more strings of

characters. Any formula that contains text operator is called Text

formula. "&" is a text operator (called concatenation operator) which

joins two or more strings.

For example, if the cell A1 contains "Information" and B1 contains

"Technology" then the formula =A1&B1 will produce the result,

"InformationTechnology". Note that there will be no gap between Information and

Technology. Say the cell C1 has one blank space in it then the formula=A1&C1&B1

will result into "Information Technology”.

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Editing a Workbook:Making error is a common phenomenon in data entry operation, but before

worksheet is finalized, all the mistakes have to be rectified. Excel provides many

powerful editing features as follows:

Opening an Existing File:

Select File option from bar menu, Excel displays a submenu. Select Open,

which will display a dialog box. From this dialog box, select the drive, folder and the

name of the file that you have to open. Select Open button from this dialog box. On

selecting this button, Excel will load the selected file and place you in the first

worksheet of the workbook. Once you have been placed in the worksheet, you can

move around in the worksheet or workbook and work with any cell of the worksheet.

Editing the Contents of a Cell:

To edit the contents of a cell, simply click the mouse at that cell and its

contents will appear in the formula bar. Now the contents can be modified either in

the formula bar or in the cell itself.

Modifying the Contents in Formula Bar:

To modify the contents in the formula bar, take the mouse pointer there. As

soon as you point the mouse pointer in the formula bar, its shape changes to that of

Insertion Pointer. Using, either arrow keys or mouse you can place the insertion

pointer at the desired place and modify the contents with the help of keyboard.

Modifying the Contents within the Cell:

To modify the contents within the cell, double click on the cell, whose

contents have to be modified. As soon as you double click on the cell, mouse

pointer will change to Insertion Pointer. you can edit the contents of the current cell

and after modifying the contents, press Enter key.

Apart from editing the contents of the cell, there are various other activities

to be performed e.g. copying the cells, moving the cells, inserting rows, inserting

columns etc.

Selecting a Cell or Group of Cells:

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A cell can be selected by moving the cell pointer to that cell. Recall that when

you select a cell, it's border gets outlined by a thick frame. On the right hand side

lower corner of which, appears a black square spot. This spot is called Handle. The

exact shape of the selected cell is illustrated below for you reference.

Following steps are observed to select a group of cells:1. Click the mouse on the first cell of the range.2. Drag the mouse over all the cells of the range.3. Release the mouse on the last cell of the range.

This process will select the desired group of cells and the selected cells will

get blackened/dark, indicating that this is the portion, which has been selected for

operation.

If you click the mouse outside the selected then the entire range gets

deselected.

Assignment No. – 5

Q.1 What is the significance of formula in Excel? Also write the categories in

which the formula is classified.

Q.2 How will you generate the following series, automatically in Excel?

March, April, May, ………….

Q.3. Write short notes on:

i) Numeric Formula

ii) Logical Formula

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Border

Handle

A

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iii) Text Formula

Q.5. How do you copy the contents of a cell to another by dragging the mouse?

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