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Microsoft Excel
This course will focus on real-life applications of MS Excel and help you start from scratch to help build your macros to make your life easier. Apart from technical bits, we will work together to help unravel the analytical self in you by continually questioning the method proposed by me and trying to figure out easier and more efficient ways to solve the problems. Throughout the course, we will pick examples close to our environment so that the problems are more relatable and directly applicable (as opposed to the trigonometric problems that I barely have used since 12th grade). During the course of the course, we will be able to not only solve well-defined problems but also try and work together to define the problems and then work towards finding a probable solution. Now that I have detailed out the plan (well, too much detailing I must say with utmost guilt), we will begin with the first lesson towards making sure we have MS Excel at our disposal (rather than the other way round).
Excel Basics - The two guiding Pillars
Imagine Excel sheets as a blackboard/whiteboard but only more organized (someone did not want you to get lost out there!). In order to navigate this blackboard, we have our two guiding pillars - the rows (Pillar 1) and the columns (Pillar 2). Rows are represented by the numbers along the side of this board while the columns are represented by letter across the top of this board. While these are our guiding pillars, they also divide the sheet into small houses called 'Cells'. Each of the combinations of these numbers and letters help us locate one of the houses on the board called cells. Let's say I am told to go to Satya's house, without his house number I am not sure if I will ever be able to locate the right Satya (unless I am that Swiggy delivery guy who just knows it all). Just like I need a house number (say 123, block 4) to locate Satya, I need both the Rows' number and Columns' letter to be able to locate that tiny little house on my excel sheet.
Example: Locate Sandy's house at B5 on the Excel sheet
How do I do it?: I start with the top of the board and locate the letter B. I then move down, down and down till I hit the 5th small house in that column. Here I am at Sandy's
How else could I have done it?: I would have alternatively started with going down till the number 5 is highlighted. I then would have moved right till I reach the 2nd house in that row. Even this brings me to Sandy's (certainly all roads lead to Rome)
How else could this still have been done?: This, I leave upon to you and help me figure out how we could have done this and still be at Sandy's.
