Some Common Operations in Microsoft Excel

Deleting a Column or a Row

Click on the column or row header to highlight the entire column or row to be deleted. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted column or row. Click on Delete from the menu.

Inserting a Column

Click on the column header directly to the right of where you want to insert a new column. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted column. Click on Insert from the menu.

Inserting a Row

Click on the row header directly below where you want to insert a new row. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted row. Click on Insert from the menu.

Sorting

Click on the grey rectangle between the "A" column header and the "1" row header in the upper left corner of the worksheet to select the entire worksheet. Click on Data on the menu bar, and then Sort... Under Sort by, select the column to sort by and select either Ascending or Descending order.

Displaying Formulas in the Worksheet

Hold down the CTRL key, and press the left single quote key (this key also has the "tilde" (~) symbol). Repeat this operation to return to numerical display. Note: spreadsheet data can be printed in either the formula display or the numerical display.

Entering Formulas

Click on the cell in which you want to enter a formula, and type the formula. Note: all formulas must begin with an equal sign (=). Additional information about functions can be obtained by clicking on the equal sign (=) next to the formula bar.

Adjusting Column Width

Click on the column header to highlight the entire column. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted column. Click on Column Width... from the menu and enter a value for the column width. Note: the column width of several columns can be adjusted simultaneously by selecting multiple columns.

Adjusting Row Height

Click on the row header to highlight the entire row. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted row. Click on Row Height... from the menu and enter a value for the row height. Note: the row height of several rows can be adjusted simultaneously by selecting multiple rows.

Adjusting the Format of Numerical Data

Click and drag over the cells containing the numerical data. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted area. Click on Format Cells... Click on the Number tab, and select the Category: for the type of data in the cells. Note: to adjust the number of decimal places in numerical data, select Number and enter the number of Decimal places: to use.

Justification of Cell Contents

Click on the cell. Click on the justification button (i.e., either left justify, center, or right justify) on the Formatting Toolbar. Note: these three buttons are found to the right of the bold, italics and underline buttons.

Justification of an Entire Column or Row

Click on the column or row header to highlight the entire column or row. Click on the justification button (i.e., either left justify, center, or right justify) on the Formatting Toolbar. Note: these three buttons are found to the right of the bold, italics and underline buttons.

Copying Cells, Columns or Rows

Select the cell(s), column(s) or row(s) by highlighting them. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted area. Click on Copy. The selected cells will be copied (transparently) to the Windows clipboard. Note: the Windows clipboard holds only the last copied data.

Pasting Cells, Columns or Rows

Select the cell(s), column(s) or row(s) into which you want to paste previously copied data (i.e., from the Windows clipboard). Note: the selected area must be the same size as the data you will be pasting. Right-click on any cell in the highlighted area. Click on Paste.

Arithmetic Precedence

Microsoft Excel follows the rules of arithmetic precedence when evaluating formulas.

( )operations enclosed in parentheses are evaluated first; nested parentheses are evaluated from the inside out
^exponentiation
* and /multiplication and division, evaluated from left to right
+ and -addition and subtraction, evaluated from left to right

Example

*Constructing a Least-Squares Graph Using Microsoft Excel

*Formatting a Least-Squares Graph Using Microsoft Excel