Simple Functions

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Simple functions

For your assignment, Excel will be used to perform simple calculations. Some of these will be described below:

AutoSum

A common simple calculation used in most tables is the "Sum" function. If a column contained a list of numbers that you wanted to add, you would select the cells containing the numbers by clicking and dragging your pointer across them. Next, in the Standard toolbar, you would click the "Sum" button, which looks like the following:

The total would then be calculated and inserted into the empty cell below the selected numbers.

Functions

Other calculations can be chosen from a list of functions. These include average, standard deviation, and much more. To insert a function, go to the "Insert" menu and select "function" to get the "Paste Function" window shown below.

This window can also be opened using the "Paste Function" shortcut on the Standard Toolbar. The shortcut button looks like the following:

As you can see from the "Function Category" section of the Paste Function window, there are a number of functions available of varying complexity. The functions available from the "Recently Used" category are displayed in the right portion of the window. "SUM" will perform the same feature as the "AutoSum" button previously discussed. Also available are the "AVERAGE" function, which will be used for the assignment. To learn more about any of these functions, select one by clicking on it and read the description in the lower half of the window. For example, the "SUM" feature has been selected above, so a description of its function is provided at the bottom of the window. A more detailed description of each function is available in the Help Menu. Under Contents and Index, select "Index" then enter the function name to display the help material.

To calculate the average of Assignment 1 marks in the sample worksheet, select the cell in which you want the average displayed. On the sample spreadsheet, cell C11 contained the average mark for Assignment 1. Next, select the Function button shown above or select AVERAGE from the Paste Function window and click OK. You will get the following window for calculating the average:

You will have to tell the Excel program what numbers you want to include for calculating the average. The scores in the Assignment 1 column are in cells C5, C6, C7, C8, and C9. In the "Number 1" field shown in the above AVERAGE window, you would describe this range as cell C5 through to cell C9 inclusive. This would be entered as "C5:C9" (without the quotes) as shown entered above.

You also have to option of clicking on the square button to the right of this field to select the cells to include by dragging your pointer across them. The formula bar will then display the following:

To accept these cells for the calculation, click the button circled in the above image. Your average mark should now be displayed in the cell you first selected. For your assignment, you should calculate the mark for each of your columns. You should not be calculating the average for the weighted mark yet as that will be covered next. Please continue to the next section on absolute and relative cell references.