Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Office Excel 2003 in 24 Hours (Sams Teach Yourself in 24 Hours)

Hour 5. Letting Excel Do the Math

This hour covers the following topics:

• What a formula can do for you

• How to create a simple formula

• How to use AutoSum

• How to use range names in formulas

• When to use relative and absolute addressing

• How to copy formulas

• How to troubleshoot formula errors

Unless you were born with a mathematical mind, numbers probably scare you. Creating a meaningful spreadsheet usually involves lots of numbers ”enough to bring all but the bravest souls to their knees.

Relax! In this hour, you learn how to let Excel do the math for you. Now you learn how to add some power to the sales worksheet by adding formulas to it. Formulas take most of the hard work out of the arithmetic portion of your worksheets. When you use Excel, you can put away your calculator, scratch pads, and pencils.