CHAPTER 1Introducing Excel
This chapter is an introductory overview of Excel 2019. If you're already familiar with a previous version of Excel, reading (or at least skimming) this chapter is still a good idea.
Understanding What Excel Is Used For
Excel is the world's most widely used spreadsheet software and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. Other spreadsheet software is available, but Excel is by far the most popular and has been the world standard for many years.
Much of the appeal of Excel is its versatility. Excel's forte, of course, is performing numerical calculations, but Excel is also useful for nonnumeric applications. Here are just a few uses for Excel:
- Crunching numbers Create budgets, tabulate expenses, analyze survey results, and perform just about any type of financial analysis you can think of.
- Creating charts Create a variety of highly customizable charts.
- Organizing lists Use the row-and-column layout to store lists efficiently.
- Manipulating text Clean up and standardize text-based data.
- Accessing other data Import data from a variety of sources.
- Creating graphical dashboards Summarize a large amount of business information in a concise format.
- Creating ...
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