Introduction to MS Excel

Introduction to Excel
Training
Tarek Dib
Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant, AMURT
Beirut, Lebanon
Phone: 03/046829
Emails: tdib@amurt.email OR tdib03@gmail.com

Topics
• EXCEL Components
• Numeric Functions
• COUNTIF Function
• IF, SUMIF and AVERAGEIF Functions
• Date Functions
• Text Functions
• Number Formatting
• Pivot Tables
• Charts

Numeric Functions
• Numeric functions in Excel develop computation on numbers
• Some of these functions would be to find the sum of numbers, average, smallest or largest
number, median, count, etc.
• Average of numbers is the sum of all numbers divided by how many numbers there are in a
range of cells. Example: Assume that the Weights in Kg of 10 people are: 70, 60, 55, 45,
65, 65, 55, 85, 40 and 90. Then the average weight = (70 + 60 + 55 + 45 + 65 + 65 + 55 + 85
+ 40 + 90)/10 = 63. However, in Excel, you may use the AVERAGE() function instead.
• Median is the 50th percentile of a set of numbers. In other word, it is the middle of a set
of numbers. If we take the same weight example above. Manually, it is computed as
follows: first you sort the data in ascending order i.e. from smallest to largest, and you
take the middle number or numbers. Sorted data: 40, 45, 55, 55, 60, 65, 65, 70, 85, 90.
Median = (60 + 65)/2 = 62.5. In excel you may use the MEDIAN() function instead.

Numeric Functions - Continued
• SUM(): Finds the sum of numbers in a range of cells
• MIN(): Returns the smallest number in a range of cells
• MAX(): Returns the largest number in a range of cells
• MODE(): Returns the most frequent i.e. repeated number
• COUNT(): It counts how many cells in a given range contains
numbers
• COUNTA(): It count the number of cells in a given range that
contain characters such as numbers, text, or symbols
• SQRT(): Finds the square root of a number

The COUNT() Function Family
• COUNT() and COUNTA() have been defined previously in Slide 5
• COUNTIF(): is a function to count cells that meet a single criteria.
This is illustrated in the example below
Another example is use
the weight data to find
how many weigh above
the average i.e. above
63 Kg. The formula to
be used is:
COUNTIF(B2:B11,">=63")

IF(), SUMIF() and AVERAGEIF() Functions
• IF() function: The IF() function returns one value for a TRUE
result, and another for a FALSE result
• The formula for IF() function is “=IF (logical_test, [value_if_true],
[value_if_false])”. It will clear when we use the example in the
next slide
• SUMIF() function is used to sum the amount which meets specific
criteria
• The formula of SUMIF() is “=SUMIF(range,criteria,sum_range)”
• AVERAGEIF() function is similar to SUMIF(), but finds the average
instead

IF(), SUMIF() and AVERAGEIF() Functions -
Examples

Date Functions
Date functions that we will look at in this training are the following:
• Day(): Returns an integer between 1 and 31
• Weekday(): Returns an integer between 1 and 7 (1: Monday, 2: Tuesday, up
to 7: Sunday)
• Year(): Returns the year in a certain date
• Today(): Returns the current date without the timestamp
• Now(): Same as Today() but returns the time
• Datedif(): Returns the period in years, days, etc. between two dates
• Days(): Returns the number of days between two dates
• Text(): Returns the day of the week (Monday through Sunday) (Text(date,
“dddd”) to return the day of the week

Pivot Table
• Pivot table is an effective tool in Excel to group data by categories such
as gender, nationality, age group, etc.
• For this example, we will create a pivot table to count the number of
Lebanese and Syrian households in each work type. Steps to create this
pivot table are:
1. Select the table or cells (including column headers)
you want to include in your PivotTable

Pivot Table - Continued
2. From the Insert tab, click the PivotTable command
3. The Create PivotTable dialog box will appear.
Choose your settings, then click OK. In our example,
we'll use Table1 as our source data and place the
PivotTable on a new worksheet

4. A blank PivotTable and Field List will appear on a new worksheet

5. Once you create a PivotTable, you'll need to decide which fields to add. Each field is
simply a column header from the source data. In the PivotTable Field List, check the
box for each field you want to add. In our example, we want to know the number of
Syrians and Lebanese in each work type. We will check Nationality and work_type

Charts/ Graphs with Example
1. Highlight the range of data with the column header included
2. Go to Insert Tab, and under the Charts, select the type of chart or
Recommended
Charts window to select the appropriate chart
you would like to have in your report
3. In the example, we are having Days of the
week and the run time in minutes each day.
For such data fields, the best charts would
either be the bar/ column or line chart since
the x-axis is a categorical variable and the
y-axis is a numerical variable. There are other
types of charts that you shall explore in your own

Charts/ Graphs with Example – Column vs.
Line Chart
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
TIMEINMINUTES
DAY
Daily Run Time
April 16th to 22nd
33
0
32
86
50
76
0
MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN
TimeinMinutes
Day
Daily Run Time
April 16th to 22nd

Thank you.
Hope to see you in the near future. Until then, remember
that it is not worth stressing about things we can’t
change. The only control I can have upon is me and
myself. Happiness is an inner job, and as I said no one is
responsible of neither my happiness nor my misery. Also
remember to go out and explore what this earth has
gifted us with plenty of love and beauty!

Introduction to MS Excel

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