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DO YOU EXCEL IN ELECTRONICS?

Part 1: Learning the Basics of Excel
by Aubrey Kagan

Start ý Data Acquisition and Analysis ý Autofill ý Copying Formulas ý Relative and Absolute ý Naming Cells ý Determining the Cost ý Sorting ý Using Look Up ý Figuring the Total ý Sources and PDF

FIGURING THE TOTAL

Now, letýs take a look at the total cost. Highlight from E9 to E17, and click the sigma (S ) symbol on the toolbar. The sum is placed in the last row of the block. You can even stretch this shorthand. Highlight F9 to G17, and press S on the toolbar. The sum is placed in the last row of the block for each column. Now, highlight E9 to G17 and format for currency see Photo 17 and Example2c.xls, (download Excel files).

(click here to enlarge)

Photo 17ýThe completed cost worksheet can be seen here. The cost per unit based on the number of units manufactured appears in cells E17, F17, and G17.

All that is left is to make the spreadsheet cosmetically appealing. HLOOKUP has a counterpart in VLOOKUP (vertical look up and LOOKUP).

I hope this has fueled your enthusiasm for the use of Excel. There are many unusual applications for Excel. For instance, the design idea discussed in "Excel offers painless LCD initialization" by Alberto Bitti. [1] However, even in component value calculations, donýt ignore Excel as a tool to improve and speed up basic computations such as a circuit using a LM317 programmable voltage regulator.

Next month, Iýll introduce the use of macros and show you how to create a macro that will generate the nearest standard resistor value after youýve done a calculation. In addition, Iýll show you how to use the Solve For function to reduce the effort required to solve an equation with one variable.

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