How to work in Excel: The basics are the same as in any other MS Office application: To open a new file

you go under the menu File/New (or click the small icon showing a blank paper). To open an existing file you go under the menu File/Open and then browse the computer etc etc (or click the icon showing the yellow folder) To save a file you go to File/Save as (or click the icon showing the floppy disk) To go back one or two steps go to menu Edit/Undo (or click the anti-clockwise blue arrow) Now lets go more into detail about Excel. You might remember that childhood game called Battleship, where you need to guess where the other players position their ships and you give them precise coordinates, such as Row A, 2 nd column or Row F, 7th column etc. The grid in Excel uses exactly the same principle, which is why every single cell is unique. You can do all sorts of mathematical operations within this program, you need to remember though that the syntax may differ from the one used in mathematical books. For instance to write the sign that indicates the multiplication you wont use the X, you will use the asterisk (aka the star key * ) IMPORTANT 1) every single math operation has to start with the equal sign =, otherwise the computer wont recognise it as such. 2) No cell contains a full math operation. You either have one of the values needed in the operation or just the FORMULA that gives you the result. EXAMPLE: 2+3 = 5. First assign a value to each cell you need. In this case we need only 3 cells because its a plain operation. In cell A1 put the value 2, in cell A2 the value 3 and in cell A3 we naturally wont put 5. We will put the following syntax: = A1+A2 (press enter on the keyboard or click with the mouse the tick icon on the formula bar)

3) You must remember that every time you insert a formula you should press

ENTER on the keyboard, or better, with the mouse go up in the Formula Bar and click the Green tick to validate the formula. If you dont do this the computer will keep on adding other cells onto your formula (basically anything that your mouse goes over). The most common operations symbols are: + for addition - for subtraction * for multiplication / for division >>> make sure its a slash, not a backslash SQRT(cellname) >>> Square Root. its vital to put the brackets & leave no space (cellname)^2 >>> Quadratic Formula. If you need the other power numbers just put ^3, ^4 etc Ps. Instead of Cellname put A1, C5, etc

ADDITION and MULTIPLICATION in detail: The advantage of using excel is that if you have many numbers in a row, or in a columns, you can avoid repeating the long math syntax by using the following formulas: = SUM (Cell1:Cellx) Where Cell1 is the starting cell and Cellx is the last one. If you had all you data in a row, lets say from cell A1 to cell A20, you could write this formula inside the cell B1: = SUM(A1:A20) This save you from having to write the long =A1+A2+A3+A4+A5....+A20 You can do the same thing with the multiplication: =PRODUCT(A1:A20) (instead of writing =A1*A2*A3...*A20)

THE SYMBOL : basically means all the values included within the range from the cell on the left to the cell on the right. If you dont need to add all the cells within your row, you can do it so by using commas to divide the interval you need. Lets say you needed to add only the values inside cells A1, A2, A3, A7, A9, FROM A15 TO A20. =SUM(A1:A3,A7,A9,A15:A20)

You can use the SUMIF function to create a total value for one range based on a value in another range, as in the following example. Example A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Buchanan Buchanan Suyama Suyama Buchanan Dodsworth Formula =SUMIF(A2:A7,"Buchanan",B2:B7) =SUMIF(B2:B7,">=9000",B2:B7) Salesperson 15,000 9,000 8,000 20,000 5,000 22,500 Description (Result) Sum of invoices for Buchanan (29000) Sum of large invoices greater than or equal to 9,000 (66500) Sum of small invoices less B Invoice

=SUMIF(B2:B7,"<9000",B2:B7)

than 9,000 (13000) The SUMIF function uses the following arguments

Formula with SUMIF function Range to evaluate: Check these cells to determine whether a row meets your criteria. Criteria: The condition that the cells you evaluate must meet for the row to be included in the sum. Range to sum: Add the numbers in these cells provided that the row satisfies the condition.

Basic built-in functions. (AVERAGE, MEAN, MODE, COUNT, MAX, MIN) We will use the familiar example of a class's grades to illustrate the use of some of the more basic Excel functions, like AVERAGE( ), MODE( ) AND MAX( ). Assume a class's grade distribution is as follows: 3, 0, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 1, 4, 0, 3, 3, 1, 1, 3. These grades are based on a 4-point scale with 4=A and 0=F and are entered into an Excel worksheet shown below. Using the AVERAGE( ) function, we find the class's average (or arithmetic mean) grade is a disappointing 2.47, or a mid-C. The syntax for this common function is =AVERAGE(number1, number2, ...) and is displayed in the screen shot below. However we don't get a clear picture of the class's performance by simply looking at its average. We can further analyze the data using the MEDIAN( ) function. The median gives the middle number in a set of numbers and its syntax is =MEDIAN(number1, number2,...). We see from the screen shot below that the median grade is 3.0, meaning that half of the grades are higher than 3.0, and half are lower. Therefore, despite the low class average, more students scored 3's and 4's than 2's, 1's and 0's.

Additionally, we can also analyze the grade distribution by using the MODE( ) function. The mode gives the most frequently occurring value of a set of numbers and its syntax is =MODE(number1, number2,...). From the screen shot, we see that the mode grade is 4, meaning that a score of 4 was the most common grade. Again, the instructor of the class can take heart that, despite the low class average, more students made A's than any other grade. Without going into too much detail, we can also use some of Excel's built-in functions to determine the number of grades entered, and the maximum and minimum grades of the distribution. The syntax for these functions are shown below in the bulletted list and also in the screen shot.

The COUNT( ) function gives the number of cells that contain numbers. Its syntax is =COUNT(value1, value2, ...). The MAX( ) function returns the largest value in a set of numbers. Its syntax is =MAX(number1, number2, ...). The MIN( ) function returns the smallest value in a set of numbers. Its syntax is =MIN(number1, number2, ...).

If you want to make graphic charts from the values you have, you need to highlight the rows and columns you need, then click on menu INSERT/PIE or INSERT/COLUMN etc

How to work in PowerPoint: The basics are the same as in any other MS Office application: To open a new file you go under the menu File/New (or click the small icon showing a blank paper). To open an existing file you go under the menu File/Open and then browse the computer etc etc (or click the icon showing the yellow folder) To save a file you go to File/Save as (or click the icon showing the floppy disk) To go back one or two steps go to menu Edit/Undo (or click the anti-clockwise blue arrow) According to the PowerPoint version you have, the menu changes slightly so I cannot be very specific. Said that, you dont have t worry because this software is very easy and more importantly, its very similar to Word, the text editor. Whenever you open a new file, you will have a page empty but ready-made, so you have just to click with the mouse inside of every square to replace the text. To insert a new page, you must add a new slide, this is how the pages are called here. You can do so by clicking on Home/New Slide in Office 2007, in the previous versions have a look inside the menu File, it should be there. To add images go to the menu Insert and then choose Picture. From there you will have the usual small window box and you have just to browse inside the folders holding your images, maybe Documents, maybe desktop, etc To add some sound go again inside menu Insert and choose Sound, then browse again. When you are making a slide show is good to have some sot of transition effect between a slide and the other. The most used one is called Fade, inside the new Power Point does not have a name, but you can recognise it easily when you go inside the menu Animation, its the first or the second effect. You can choose manually the Transition speed from one slide to another, also you can decide if you want to advance the slides automatically (then you have to specify how many seconds) or you can choose on mouse click. All these options are inside the menu Animation. Just try and have fun creating something.