Using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate Andrew s 18th birthday costs Open a new spreadsheet in Excel. Highlight cells A1 to J1. Prevocational Mathematics 1 of 17
Planning an event Using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate Go to Format on the menu bar and select Cells from the drop-down menu. Select the Alignment tab and check Merge cells. 2 of 17 Prevocational Mathematics
Click on OK. Cells A1 to J1 should now be merged. Select the font and font size for the heading and enter the heading Andrew s 18th birthday fish and feed in cells A1 to J1. For this heading, the following selections have been made: font: Comic Sans MS (You may prefer something else.) font size: 16 The heading has also been made bold. Prevocational Mathematics 3 of 17
Planning an event Using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate Select cell A4 on your worksheet and bold (B) from the formatting toolbar, then type the word Budget (without the ) in cell A4. Note: Rows 2 and 3 have been left blank to leave space between a heading and the working, just as you would do if writing on lined paper. Leaving spaces like this makes the spreadsheet more readable. Select cell C4 on your worksheet and bold on the formatting toolbar, then enter the budget in dollars for this event. The budget for an 18th birthday is $1500. Because you are working with dollars and cents, you want all amounts to appear with 2 decimal places. The next 4 steps show how you can make this happen. 4 of 17 Prevocational Mathematics
Place your cursor the white cross (U) over the cell in the top left-hand corner of your worksheet where the column containing the numbers and the row containing the letters intersect; then click the left mouse button. This should select the entire worksheet. Click on Format in the menu bar and select Cells from the drop-down menu. Prevocational Mathematics 5 of 17
Planning an event Using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate The following pop-up box should now appear on your screen. 6 of 17 Prevocational Mathematics
Check that the Number tab is selected, then select Number under Category. On this same screen, check that the number of decimal places is 2. If there is a number other than 2 in this box, change the number to 2. Prevocational Mathematics 7 of 17
Planning an event Using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate Alternatively, you may prefer to select Currency under category. If you do this, check that the number of decimal places is 2 and select None under Symbol. Click OK. 8 of 17 Prevocational Mathematics
Notice that there are now 2 decimal places in the amount entered for Andrew s budget. All amounts entered in the worksheet will now have 2 decimal places. Select cell A6 on your worksheet and bold (B) from the toolbar, then type the word Expenses in cell A6. Prevocational Mathematics 9 of 17
Planning an event Using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate In cells A7 to A12, enter the different expenses Andrew has listed for his event. These are: minibus hire fishing charter (venue) invitations decorations menu menu-related costs. Note: You may need to make column A wider to fit some of these headings. To widen column A: put the cursor on the right-hand end of cell A (the cell at the very top of the column) double-click column A should automatically widen to fit the largest item typed in. Alternatively, click on cell A, move the mouse cursor to the right-hand edge of that cell, wait until the cursor changes from a white cross to a black vertical bar with horizontal arrows, then drag the edge of the column to the desired width. 10 of 17 Prevocational Mathematics
In cells C7 to C12, enter the amounts Andrew has quoted for each item on his expenses list. These are: $144.50 (minibus hire) $540 (fishing charter) $4.50 (invitations) $30.50 (decorations) $364.80 (menu) $53.75 (menu-related costs). Prevocational Mathematics 11 of 17
Planning an event Using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate Select cell A14 on your worksheet and (B) from the toolbar, then type the words Total expenses (without the ) in cell A14. 12 of 17 Prevocational Mathematics
You are now going to calculate the total cost for Andrew s expenses. To do this, you need to find the sum of the amounts listed in cells C7 to C12. Select cell C14 on your worksheet (this is where you want the total expenses to appear), and bold (B) from the toolbar, then enter this formula: =SUM(C7:C12) The sum of the amounts in cells C7 to C12 will now be calculated automatically and the total inserted in cell C14. Note: When you complete your task, your formula will be similar to the formula used here, but may not be exactly the same. You must use: =SUM(**:##) where ** stands for the address of the first cell in the column to be added (in this example it s C7) and ## stands for the address of the last cell in the column to be added (here it s C12). Prevocational Mathematics 13 of 17
Planning an event Using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate Select cell A16 on your worksheet and bold (B) from the toolbar, and enter the heading Surplus/deficit in this cell. To calculate the surplus (amount left over) or deficit (amount you have spent over budget), you need to subtract the total expenses that is, the amount in cell C14 from the amount you had in your budget that is, the amount in cell C4. Select cell C16 on your worksheet (this is where you want the surplus or deficit to appear) and bold (B) from the toolbar, then enter this formula: =C4-C14 14 of 17 Prevocational Mathematics
The amount in cell C14 will now be deducted automatically from the amount in cell C4. In this case Andrew has a surplus of $361.95; that is, he has $361.95 left over after he has paid all his expenses. A deficit would be shown as a negative amount. Note: When you complete your task, your formula will be similar to =C4-C14, that is, it will calculate the difference between the Budget amount (C4) and the Total expenses amount (C14), but the formula may not be exactly the same (the cell addresses may be different). Use the appropriate cell addresses on your spreadsheet in this formula when you complete your task. Prevocational Mathematics 15 of 17
Planning an event Using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate Double-click on the Sheet 1 tab at the bottom of your worksheet. 16 of 17 Prevocational Mathematics
Type Andrew s 18th birthday budget on this tab. Save this file in case you need to refer to it as you are doing the next part of your task. Notice that Andrew has $361.95 left over from his budgeted amount (a surplus) after all his expenses have been paid. If Andrew had spent more than his budget of $1500, this would be shown as a negative amount (a deficit) in this cell. Prevocational Mathematics 17 of 17