EXCEL: EXERCISE 5

EXCEL

EXERCISE 5

FUNCTIONS AND CELL RANGES

Broadly, the Excels (or other spreadsheet software) functions allow to summarize some complex and/or very long formulas. So, many functions are formulas in
a more summarized format E.g., =SUMA(A1:A10) does the same as:
=A1+A2+A3+A4+A5+A6+A7+A8+A9+A10
The structure of a function is like this (more or less):
=NAME OF THE FUNCTION(ARGUMENT1;ARGUMENT2...)
The arguments of a function are the data which the user must introduce to allow the function to work: e.g., cells or cell ranges where the amounts to sum are.
The main functions advantage (and a big difference from the formulas) is the
possibility of working with cell ranges, not only with single cells
In this exercise, you are going to learn the use of the following functions (in
Spanish, because the program isnt translated to English):

SUMA (partly seen before): sums all the cells in a range

PROMEDIO: calculates the average of the cells in a range
MAX: returns the maximum quantity among the cells in a range
MIN: returns the minimum quantity among the cells in a range
CONTAR: counts the number of cells with numerical data in a range

Furthermore, we are going to learn the conditional cell formatting: how to

give a certain format to a cell only if a given condition is true.

TASK
Open a new Excel workbook and save it as 5ex Datos examen.
A computer applications teacher wants to control the absences of his students
(two groups, A and B) along the firs evaluation period and, with this purpose, makes
an Excel table to help him. This table must allow to calculate:
1

EXCEL: EXERCISE 5

a) The total Each students absences from September to December (function

SUMA)
b) The average of each students absences along these months (function
PROMEDIO)
c) The number of absences of the more absentee student in each group and the
same of the less absentee one: month by month and along all the months
(functions MAX and MIN).
d) The total and the average of absences in both groups (functions SUMA and
PROMEDIO)
Here you can see the model. Include it in the sheet 1 (whose name will be Absences).
A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

A group

Artigues, Rosa
Bonnn, Isabel
Cascos, Alberto
Dalmau, Gerardo
Torrens, Ana
Minimum number of
8
absences
Maximum number of
9
absences
10
11
B group
12
13 lvarez, Sara
14 Armengol, Clara
15 Lendnez, Bartomeu
16 Santandreu, Vicente
17 Santos, Marisol
18 Viyuela, Agripina
Minimum number of
19
absences
Maximum number of
20
absences
21
22
23 TOTAL ABSENCES
24 GLOBAL AVERAGE

B
September
2
0
1
4
0

September
0
0
0
1
4
1

C
D
E
F
ABSENCES ALONG THE FIRST AVALUATION
October
November
December
TOTAL
4
3
6
0
1
0
0
1
2
6
8
10
1
2
0

ABSENCES ALONG THE FIRST AVALUATION

October
November
December
TOTAL
2
0
0
2
4
8
0
0
0
2
3
1
0
0
0
1
0
2

G
AVERAGE

AVERAGE

EXCEL: EXERCISE 5

PROCEDURE
a) How to sum the absences of each student, from September to December
Click on the cell F3, where the total amount of Rosa Artigues (from group A)
absences must appear. Then, click on Autosuma (group Modificar, tab Inicio); select
the cell range to sum B3:E3 and push ENTER. Next, copy the function to the TOTAL
cells of the rest of the students (F4:F7 and F13:F18)

b) How to calculate the average of each students absences along these

months.
Select the cell F3. Then, click on the arrow on the right of the button AUTOSUMA.

Click on the function

PROMEDIO.

Automatically, the contiguous

range with numbers (B3:F3) is
selected. The total mustnt been
included in the average calculation, so select the range B3:E3.

Next, copy the function to the cells corresponding to the rest of students
(G4:G7 and G13:G18)

c) Maximum and minimum number of absences

Select the cell B8. Then click on the arrow on the right of the button AUTOSUMA and choose the function MAX. The cell range we are interested about is automatically selected (B3:B7), above the cell we are. Dont change it and accept. Then,
copy the function until F8.
Copy the function corresponding to September, group A, to the equivalent cell
in the group B (B19). After this, copy the function until F19.
You must do the same to get the minimum number of absences, but using the
function MIN and leaving the result of the function MAX out of the selected range.
So, the cell range to select is B3:B7.
3

EXCEL: EXERCISE 5

e) Total and average of the two groups absences:

Total:
Select the cell B23 and click on Autosuma. Select the range F3:F7.
Push the key Ctrl.; keeping it pushed, select the range F13:F18. Then,
push ENTER.
Average:
Click on the arrow on the right of AUTOSUMA and, then, on the function PROMEDIO.
Select the cell range F3:F7 (the exercise asks for a average from the
totals, not from the averages) Push the key Ctrl.; keeping it pushed,
select the range F13:F18. Then, push ENTER. Add only two decimal
places to the result.

TASK
The same teacher, to make a control checking easier, makes an Excel table to
automatically calculate each students qualification, once the qualification for each
exercise of the control has been introduced (the control qualification will result from
the sum of those ones of the four exercises). Besides, you must get the following
data:
The average qualification of each exercise and global average qualification of
the two groups (control, classroom exercises and evaluation period)
The average qualification between the control one of each student and the
qualification of the classroom exercises (it will be the qualification for the
evaluation period)
The maximum and minimum qualification in each exercise and the control
maximum and minimum qualification
The total number of students who assisted to the control (function CONTAR)
Reproduce in the sheet 2 (whose name will be Exam data) the table shown in
page 5.

EXCEL: EXERCISE 5

Exer. 1 Exer. 2 Exer. 3 Exer. 4

Exam Classroom
mark
exer.

1
2,5

0,5
1,75

0,25
0,75

1,5
2

2,5

2,3

2,5

Torrens, Ana

0,25

0,75

lvarez, Sara

1,5

9
10

Armengol, Clara
Lendnez, Bartomeu

2,5
1,75

1,5
1,25

1,25
0,75

0,75
2,5

7,5
8
7,75

B group

A group

Artigues, Rosa
Bonnn, Isabel
Cascos, Alberto
Dalmau, Gerardo

11

Marks

2
3
4
5
6

Santandreu, Vicente

5,5
7
8
8,5
5

12

Santos, Marisol

0,75

0,25

0,5

0,75

6
4

13

Viyuela, Agripina

2,25

2,5

0,5

0,75

8,25

14
15
16

AVERAGES
MAXIMUM
MINIMUM

17

EXAMINED STUDENTS

Av.
mark

Furthermore, the control and evaluation qualifications below 5 must automatically appear red and bold (conditional format).

PROCEDURE
Function CONTAR
Count the cells which contain numbers in a cell range.
Select the cell where the number of presented students must appear (C17).
Then, click on the arrow on the right of AUTOSUMA and choose the function CONTAR.
Select the range C3:C13 (the empty cells correspond to no presented students)
Finally, push ENTER.

Conditional cell formatting

Select the cell ranges G3:G13 and I3:I13 (after selecting the first range, push
Ctrl. and, keeping the key pushed, select the second range).

EXCEL: EXERCISE 5

Click on the tab Inicio

(ribbon), Formato condicional, Nueva regla

Every qualifications of the selected cell ranges below

5 must appear red and bold.

2- Select the second

type of rule and set it as
shown below.

1- Next, click on
Formato.

EXCEL: EXERCISE 5

Choose the options Negrita

and Color rojo. Click on
Aceptar and accept again in
the dialog box Nueva regla de
formato

Note: for the rest of the functions, see the procedures previously explained in this exercise