1. Fluency with Information Technology INFO100 and CSE100 Katherine Deibel 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology1

2.  Powerful tools for managing data  Organization  Manipulation  Calculation  Visualization  High-level tool for programming  Think of spreadsheets as a handier interface for computing ideas than JavaScript is 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology2

3. row name column name cell formula column heading referenced cell L2 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology3

4.  Variables: Cells are variables (contain data)  Expressions: Setting a cell to a formula is an (unevaluated) assignment statement  Functions and Parameters: Spreadsheets have built-in function  Arrays and IDs: The position (row/column) names the data  Iteration: Operating on all elements in a range as in =SUM(A1:A5) 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology4

5.  A spreadsheet is a 2-D array of cells  Multiple sheets make it 3-D  The idea is that the rows or columns represent a common kind of data  Adding more data of the same type means adding more rows or columns  Often spreadsheets contain numbers, but text-only spreadsheets are useful, too 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology5

6.  Reference to cells happens in 2 ways: Relative and Absolute (with $)  F2relative column, relative row  F$2relative column, absolute row  $F2absolute column, relative row  $F$2absolute column, absolute row  Relative references change when pasted/filled  Absolute references do not change 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology6

7.  Creating a discount table uses rel and abs refs  Consider store credit of $1 per $10 spent  $3 store credit for every 2 CDs (1 earns $1) =$B3/10 + (3/2)*C$2 =[B,myposition.row]/10 + (3/2)*[myposition.col,2] B 2 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology7

8.  Fill is a spreadsheet shortcut for copy-and-paste  Grab the fill tab with the cursor and pull in the direction to be pasted fill tab 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology8

9.  Spreadsheet cells contain one of three types of data  A number  A string  A formula  Essentially, almost anything can be put in a cell but it is only treated as one of the above 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology9

10.  Numbers are used to represent:  Numbers (duh)  Percentages  Fractions  Dates  Time  Many of the above depend on how the cell's display format is set 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology10

11.  When a cell contains data, it is displayed in two ways  The raw form  A formatted view  Formatting can be used to  Format dates  Add currency symbols  Scientific Notation 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology11

12. 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology12

13. May apply to other spreadsheet programs Consult your physician before stopping power use of Excel Offer not valid in Alaska 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology13

14.  The data in a spreadsheet can be manipulated using formulas  The value in H2 (selected cell) is the value in F2 times 0.621 … the result is shown, but the cell has the formula 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology14

15.  One way to repeat the formula is to copy-and-paste 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology15

16.  The relative and absolute references work this way because they are in effect: =[myposition.col -2,myposition.row]*0.621 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology16

17. ABC 1=C15=A1*B1 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology17 Most spreadsheet programs will warn you against circular references and will not get caught in an infinite operation.

18.  Another handy property of fill is that it can make a series based on constants  Fill 0 Step 5  0, 5, 10, 15, 20, …  Fill 22 Feb  23 Feb, 24 Feb, 25 Feb, …  More generally  Series fill will even count using a constant  Counting by odd sizes: give 1st two items 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology18

19.  Chapter 15 Case Study – Travel Costs  This chapter guides you through several other power features of Excel  Conditional Formatting  Filtering 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology19

20. Calculations, Formulas, Charts, Etc. 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology20 Mommy plays with Excel instead of me…

21.  Spreadsheets come with built-in functions for many purposes:  Basic math functions (ABS, FLOOR, EXP)  Statistics (AVERAGE, MEDIAN)  String manipulation (FIND, LEN  Logic (IF, AND, NOT)  And many more 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology21

22.  When you enter a = into the edit bar, you can click on the function button  This brings up a list of functions for you to browse through  Each function also has help files and demos associated with it 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology22

23.  Interactive windows help you fill in formula parameters 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology23

24.  There's a CONCATENATE function, but it's easier to just use the & symbol  ="I want a " & 4.0 & " GPA" will output: I want a 4.0 GPA  To include a double quote in a string, use two: "" 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology24

25.  Visualizations help with communicating large amounts of data  Lots of room for flexibility and creativity  Entire course in itself  Good place to blaze away and explore  Plenty of good tutorials online  One of my favorites is: http://peltiertech.com/ 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology25

26.  Spreadsheets are great because they have lots of cells  Spread out your calculations  As they said in elementary school math… SHOW YOUR WORK!! 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology26

27.  Let's calculate something complex  Yes, Excel has a built-in function for this (STDEV), but let's do this  By the way, μ is the average of the N x's 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology27

28.  Excel VBA is a programming language  Visual Basic for Applications  Lets you write event handlers, macros, your own formulas  Object-oriented like JavaScript  Has its own idiosyncrasies  Large user community with online tutorials and help forums 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology28

29.  Spreadsheets are powerful tools  One of the best tools for the digerati  Easy access to programming  Spreadsheets are often the easiest way to make a computer solve your problem if the software for that problem doesn’t already exist 2012-05-18Katherine Deibel, Fluency in Information Technology29