Introduction to Excel 2003

Microsoft Office Excel 2003 is a spreadsheet program that enables you to enter, manipulate, calculate, and chart data. An Excel file is referred to as a workbook, which is a collection of worksheets. Each worksheet is comprised of rows and columns of data which you can perform calculations on. It's these calculations that make Excel such a powerful tool.

You can use Excel for a wide variety of purposes, from calculating payments for a personal loan, to creating a personal budget, to tracking employee sales and calculating bonuses for your business.

A formula is an equation which performs calculations between cells in a worksheet or table. A formula always begins with an equal sign. Excel comes with a number of preset formulas, called functions, for common calculations such as calculating totals and averages, figuring loan payments, and estimating future values.