Microsoft Excel provides a grid interface
to organize nearly any type of information.
The power of Excel lies in it's flexibility to define
the layout and structure of the information you
want to manage. Basic tasks require no special
training, and Excel allows you to work with text,
numbers, and date information in a relatively open
and unstructured way. Nearly 30 years after
it's initial introduction, Excel remains the worlds
leading spreadsheet software.
This brief
article provides an introduction to Microsoft Excel,
major uses, and key features every Excel user should
be aware of.
Excel is used widely in any financially-related
activity. The ability to create new spreadsheets
where users can define custom formulas to calculate
anything from a simple quarterly forecast to a full
corporate annual report makes Excel highly appealing.
Excel is also used widely for common information
organization and tracking like a list of sales leads,
project status reports, contact lists, and invoicing.
Finally, Excel is a useful tool for scientific and
statistical analysis with large data sets.
Excel's statistical formulas and graphing can help
researches perform variance analysis, chi-square
testing, and chart complex data.