Section 1 - Introduction

There are several spreadsheet applications on the market today. The computers in the labs at St. Edward's University have Microsoft Excel installed on them. Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that has many uses, for example, it can be used as a financial tool to perform calculations and other tasks automatically. Other uses include, creating contact lists, budgets, or just to track and analyze data for both business and personal use. Excel allows you to accomplish these tasks in a shorter period of time than writing or calculating by hand.

This lesson covers some basic spreadsheet concepts, and also will introduce you to the common screen elements found in this application. The instructions given in this lesson apply to Microsoft Excel XP and 2007 (Windows OS), and Excel 2004 (Macintosh OS). If you are using a different version of Excel or a different spreadsheet application, the screens and menus may vary.