Excel Scientific and Engineering Cookbook

Chapter 1. Using Excel

Introduction

This chapter is necessarily basic and is intended for readers new to Excel or with little Excel experience. Experienced users may skip this chapter without loss of continuity. The aim of this chapter is to get you acquainted with Excel’s interface and the main features and capabilities that we’ll use throughout the remainder of this book. I’m also going to show you several techniques that will help you create presentable spreadsheets and allow you to work efficiently in Excel. The techniques and features summarized in this chapter will be put to use in the recipes throughout the remainder of this book.

1.1. Navigating the Interface

Problem

You’ve never used Excel before and don’t know where to start.

Solution

Start Excel and begin poking around the interface to become familiar with it.

Discussion

This solution sounds simple and it is. I believe there’s no better way to learn something on the computer than to just start exploring and experimenting. Don’t worry about breaking anything. The worst you can do is create a nonsensical spreadsheet—in which case, you can exit Excel without saving anything and start over fresh. I have a four-year-old daughter who loves playing around in Excel because of the paperclip office assistant. If she can’t ruin anything with all her random clicking and typing, then I think you’re in good shape to do some purposeful exploring. That said, I won’t just throw you to the wolves, but will point you in the right direction to begin ...