CHAPTER 14
Creating a Worksheet and Charting Data
OBJECTIVES
Objective 1: Create, Save, and Navigate an Excel Workbook
Active cell The cell, surrounded by a black border, ready to receive data or be affected by the next
Excel command.
Cell The intersection of a column and a row.
Cell address Another name for a cell reference.
Cell reference The identification of a specific cell by its intersecting column letter and row number.
Column A vertical group of cells in a worksheet.
Column heading The letter that displays at the top of a vertical group of cells in a worksheet; beginning
with the first letter of the alphabet, a unique letter or combination of letters identifies each column.
Data Text or numbers in a cell.
Excel pointer An Excel window element with which you can display the location of the pointer.
Expand Formula Bar button An Excel window element with which you can increase the height of the
Formula Bar to display lengthy cell content.
Expand horizontal scroll bar button An Excel window element with which you can increase the width
of the horizontal scroll bar.
Formula Bar An element in the Excel window that displays the value or formula contained in the active
cell; here you can also enter or edit values or formulas.
Lettered column headings The area along the top edge of a worksheet that identifies each column
with a unique letter or combination of letters.
Name Box An element of the Excel window that displays the name of the selected cell, table, chart, or
object.
Normal view A screen view that maximizes the number of cells visible on your screen and keeps the
column letters and row numbers close to the columns and rows.
Numbered row headings The area along the left edge of a worksheet that identifies each row with a
unique number.
Row A horizontal group of cells in a worksheet.
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Row heading The numbers along the left side of an Excel worksheet that designate the row numbers.
Select All box A box in the upper left corner of the worksheet grid that, when clicked, selects all the
cells in a worksheet.
Sheet tab scrolling buttons Buttons to the left of the sheet tabs used to display Excel sheet tabs that
are not in view; used when there are more sheet tabs than will display in the space provided.
Sheet tabs The labels along the lower border of the Excel window that identify each worksheet.
Spreadsheet Another name for a worksheet.
Status bar The area along the lower edge of the Excel window that displays, on the left side, the
current cell mode, page number, and worksheet information; on the right side, when numerical data is
selected, common calculations such as Sum and Average display.
Workbook An Excel file that contains one or more worksheets.
Worksheet The primary document that you use in Excel to work with and store data, and which is
formatted as a pattern of uniformly spaced horizontal and vertical lines.
Worksheet grid area A part of the Excel window that displays the columns and rows that intersect to
form the worksheet’s cells.
Objective 2: Enter Data in a Worksheet
Auto Fill An Excel feature that generates and extends values into adjacent cells based on the values of
selected cells.
AutoComplete A feature that speeds your typing and lessens the likelihood of errors; if the first few
characters you type in a cell match an existing entry in the column, Excel fills in the remaining
characters for you.
Cell content Anything typed into a cell.
Constant value Numbers, text, dates, or times of day that you type into a cell.
Context sensitive A command associated with the currently selected or active object; often activated
by right-clicking a screen item.
Displayed value The data that displays in a cell.
Fill handle The small square in the lower right corner of a selected cell.
Formula An equation that performs mathematical calculations on values in a worksheet.
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General format The default format that Excel applies to numbers; this format has no specific
characteristics—whatever you type in the cell will display, with the exception that trailing zeros to the
right of a decimal point will not display.
Label Another name for a text value, and which usually provides information about number values.
Left alignment The cell format in which characters align at the left edge of the cell; this is the default
for text entries and is an example of formatting information stored in a cell.
Number format A specific way in which Excel displays numbers in a cell.
Number values Constant values consisting of only numbers.
Picture element A point of light measured in dots per square inch on a screen; 64 pixels equals 8.43
characters, which is the average number of characters that will fit in a cell in an Excel worksheet using
the default font.
Pixel The abbreviated name for a picture element.
Quick Analysis tool A tool that displays in the lower right corner of a selected range with which you
can analyze your data by using Excel tools such as charts, color-coding, and formulas.
Range Two or more selected cells on a worksheet that are adjacent or nonadjacent; because the range
is treated as a single unit, you can make the same changes or combination of changes to more than
one cell at a time.
Series A group of things that come one after another in succession; for example, January, February,
March, and so on.
Text values Constant values consisting of only text, which usually provide information about number
values; also referred to as labels.
Underlying value The data that displays in the Formula Bar.
Value Another name for a constant value.
Objective 3: Construct and Copy Formulas and Use the SUM Function
AutoSum A button that provides quick access to the SUM function.
Function A predefined formula—a formula that Excel has already built for you—that performs
calculations by using specific values in a particular order.
Point and click method The technique of constructing a formula by pointing to and then clicking cells;
this method is convenient when the referenced cells are not adjacent to one another.
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Relative cell reference In a formula, the address of a cell based on the relative positions of the cell that
contains the formula and the cell referred to in the formula.
Rounding A procedure in which you determine which digit at the right of the number will be the last
digit displayed and then increase it by one if the next digit to its right is 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9.
SUM function A predefined formula that adds all the numbers in a selected range of cells.
Underlying formula The formula entered in a cell and visible only on the Formula Bar.
Objective 4: Format Cells with Merge & Center, Cell Styles, and Themes
Accounting Number Format The Excel number format that applies a thousand comma separator
where appropriate, inserts a fixed U.S. dollar sign aligned at the left edge of the cell, applies two
decimal places, and leaves a small amount of space at the right edge of the cell to accommodate a
parenthesis for negative numbers.
Cell style A defined set of formatting characteristics, such as font, font size, font color, cell borders, and
cell shading.
Comma Style The Excel number format that inserts thousand comma separators where appropriate
and applies two decimal places; Comma Style also leaves space at the right to accommodate a
parenthesis when negative numbers are present.
Format Changing the appearance of cells and worksheet elements to make a worksheet attractive and
easy to read.
Merge & Center A command that joins selected cells in an Excel worksheet into one larger cell and
centers the contents in the merged cell.
Theme A predefined set of colors, fonts, lines, and fill effects that coordinate with each other.
Objective 5: Chart Data to Create a Column Chart and Insert Sparklines
Category axis The area along the bottom of a chart that identifies the categories of data; also referred
to as the x-axis.
Category labels The labels that display along the bottom of a chart to identify the categories of data;
Excel uses the row titles as the category names.
Chart The graphic representation of data in a worksheet; data presented as a chart is usually easier to
understand than a table of numbers.
Chart Elements button A button that enables you to add, remove, or change chart elements such as
the title, legend, gridlines, and data labels.
Chart Filters button A button that enables you to change which data displays in the chart.
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Chart layout The combination of chart elements that can be displayed in a chart such as a title, legend,
labels for the columns, and the table of charted cells.
Chart style The overall visual look of a chart in terms of its graphic effects, colors, and backgrounds; for
example, you can have flat or beveled columns, colors that are solid or transparent, and backgrounds
that are dark or light.
Chart Styles button A button that enables you to set a style and color scheme for your chart.
Chart Styles gallery A group of predesigned chart styles that you can apply to an Excel chart.
Chart types Various chart formats used in a way that is meaningful to the reader; common examples
are column charts, pie charts, and line charts.
Column chart A chart in which the data is arranged in columns and that is useful for showing data
changes over a period of time or for illustrating comparisons among items.
Data marker A column, bar, area, dot, pie slice, or other symbol in a chart that represents a single data
point; related data points form a data series.
Data point A value that originates in a worksheet cell and that is represented in a chart by a data
marker.
Data series Related data points represented by data markers; each data series has a unique color or
pattern represented in the chart legend.
Legend A chart element that identifies the patterns or colors that are assigned to the categories in the
chart.
Recommended Charts An Excel feature that displays a customized set of charts that, according to
Excel’s calculations, will best fit your data based on the range of data that you select.
Sparkline A tiny chart in the background of a cell that gives a visual trend summary alongside your
data; makes a pattern more obvious.
Switch Row/Column A charting command to swap the data over the axis—data being charted on the
vertical axis will move to the horizontal axis and vice versa.
Value axis A numerical scale on the left side of a chart that shows the range of numbers for the data
points; also referred to as the y-axis.
x-axis Another name for the horizontal (category) axis.
y-axis Another name for the vertical (value) axis.
Objective 6: Print a Worksheet, Display Formulas, and Close Excel
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AutoFit An Excel feature that adjusts the width of a column to fit the cell content of the widest cell in
the column.
Scaling The process of shrinking the width and/or height of printed output to fit a maximum number of
pages.
Show Formulas A command that displays the formula in each cell instead of the resulting value.
Objective 9: Construct Formulas for Mathematical Operations
Absolute cell reference A cell reference that refers to a cell by its fixed position in a worksheet; an
absolute cell reference remains the same when the formula is copied.
Arithmetic operators The symbols +, -, *, /, %, and ^ used to denote addition, subtraction (or
negation), multiplication, division, percentage, and exponentiation in an Excel formula.
AutoCalculate A feature that displays three calculations in the status bar by default—Average, Count,
and Sum—when you select a range of numerical data.
Operators The symbols with which you can specify the type of calculation you want to perform in an
Excel formula.
Range finder An Excel feature that outlines cells in color to indicate which cells are used in a formula;
useful for verifying which cells are referenced in a formula.
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