Excel’s most common and outstanding features are its presentation in grids called cells, its functions for automating calculations with numerous formulas, and the possibility of creating graphical presentations.
At least a basic command of Excel has become an almost mandatory requirement on the resume of anyone wishing to be hired for a conventional job; now more than an extra skill, knowing how Excel works is a necessity.
It is probably the most important software in any workplace that employs computers and is one of the most widely used programs by companies, corporations, and small businesses, especially in the accounting area.
The spreadsheet functions allow many facilities to keep track of financial activities, as well as options to organize information both numerical and alphabetical data for later presentation in reports, balance sheets, charts, and graphs.
Excel is part of the Microsoft Office software package and other programs such as Word and PowerPoint.
Whether for office work, small and medium-sized businesses, school or academic work, or simply for casual use, Microsoft Excel’s functionality is reported worldwide as the easiest and most efficient to use.
1- Cells
It is a two-dimensional matrix of intersecting columns and rows that forms the famous and well-known grid of the Excel presentation.
The information is entered in the cells, which is the small rectangle where each row and column meet.
The columns are arranged vertically and identified by the letters from left to right in the guide row at the top.
The rows are presented horizontally and are numbered cardinally-from top to bottom-in the guide column on the left.
In this way, each cell is easily identifiable with the letter and number of the corresponding column and row.
With a simple click on the desired cell, Excel allows you to select to start entering both letters and numbers.
2- Worksheet
This is the name given to the complete sheet of grids where all the cells are located. The latest versions of the program handle 1,048,576 rows and 16,348 columns, from ‘A’ to the last one identified with the letters ‘XFD’.
The worksheets are identified at the bottom left with labels that can be renamed according to the user’s needs.
3- Workbooks
This is the common name for Excel files which can contain several worksheets. To switch between worksheets simply select the labels located at the bottom left of the program screen.
Traditionally the workbooks were saved in files with the extension ‘.XLS’, but since the 2007 version the extension changed to ‘.XLSX’.
Newer versions can still open files with the old extension, but otherwise, it is necessary to install a compatibility package.
4- Ribbons of options
Since the 2007 version, the Microsoft Office package programs have replaced the traditional menu with ribbons with the options arranged in icons. They are a kind of visual menu where the options are kept open.
5- Formulas
In addition to numbers and text, cells can contain formulas and this is the peculiarity that makes Excel a spreadsheet par excellence.
With formulas, Excel displays the result of a mathematical operation in the selected cell.
For Example: by typing “=3+5” in a cell, the program will display the number “8”.
This function is mainly used to perform calculations with the numerical data inserted in the cells.
By entering into the formula the identification of the cells involved, the program makes the operation, and also keeps the results updated in case of the figures in the cells involved change.
For Example: when typing in cell C3 the formula “=A3+B3”, Excel will add the values in cells A3 and B3 and display the result in C3.
If the values were 3 and 5 respectively, the result would be 8. If 5 were changed to 9 in cell B3, the result in C3 would be updated to 12.
All basic arithmetic operations can be calculated with Excel formulas in your worksheets.
6- Functions
Excel offers several options to operate more complex and specialized default functions that could be added to the formulas, such as mathematical and trigonometric operations like subtraction, sine, and cosine; financial operations like discounts and rates; and other statistical, referential, and logical functions.
7- Graphics
Excel allows you to visually present the data in a worksheet with different types of charts.
Depending on the purpose, the program offers a bar, pie, line, area, and XY scatter plots.
8- Excel Charts
It is a tool for structural storage of tabular data in a selection of columns and rows that the program keeps independent of the worksheet, for later handling by the user.
9-Dynamic Charts
Also called pivot tables, they allow the analysis of large amounts of data within the worksheets and then present them in complex reports or tables without the need to write formulas.
10- Macros
They are small programs written in Visual Basic programming language or “VBA” (Visual Basic for Applications) that help automate processes and operations in worksheets.
It is a feature for advanced users that allows programming connectivity in databases, analytics, forms, algorithms, filters, web searches, among others.
Fuente: https://www.lifeder.com/