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Formulas and Functions with Excel
Kiruthika Ragupathi,
email: kiruthika@nus.edu.sg
Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning
Renaming the worksheet
Double-click the Name tab; when the default name is selected, type the new name. You can also right
click on the Name Tab and choose Rename to type in the new name. Each worksheet can be colour-
coded, as setting different colors is helpful when you have a large number of worksheets in a workbook.
To set the color of the Worksheet tabs, right click on the tab and select a new color.
Navigating
To change the active cell, use the arrow keys, Page Up or Page Down keys, or use the mouse to click a
new cell or drag the scroll bars.
Embedding charts and pictures
To create a new chart in Excel, on the Insert menu, from the Charts group, choose the chart type you
prefer. To insert another file, such as a clip art, picture or a scanned image, from the Insert tab, under
the Illustrations group, choose Picture or Clipart.
Setting up Data
To use a spreadsheet efficiently, it helps to organise the data so that it is easy to read. When grading,
columns are typically used for each assessment item, whereas rows are used for the individuals. The
first row will be used for the column titles and the first column will be used for the serial number. You
can use the second row to indicate the maximum possible score for each of the assessment item.
Inserting a new column or row
The process for inserting rows and columns is similar. To insert a column, click the header where you
want to add a new column or row. On the header, right-click and in the drop-down context menu,
select Insert.
You may also use the Insert button to add new columns found in the Home tab,
Cells group. When you insert a column or row, content found in columns will be
moved to the right, and content in rows will be moved down.
Formatting the worksheet
The formatting of a cell refers to both the way it is styled (stylistic formatting) and the way it functions
(numeric formatting). Formatting includes display characteristics such as font, size, alignment, style,
color, as well as the type of data that the cell contains. For instance, a cell can be formatted to treat
any data entered as a monetary amount and display only whole dollar amounts. Stylistic formatting
options make your worksheet more attractive and easier to read.
Appearance
Formatting the appearance of
cells, rows, and columns can be
done with buttons in the Home
ribbon or by right-clicking and
choosing options from Format
menu. To format cells, select
the Home ribbon then select
the column, row, group or the
cells that you want to format.
Then, select the formatting
options you desire.
