QUESTION FIVE

I'm putting my grades on a spreadsheet, and I want the average grade on an assignment. How can I do that quickly?

Formulas and functions can sound scary to teachers new to Excel, but learning just a few of them will make averaging -- and a few other class tasks -- a cinch.

Look at the graphic below:

Students'grades are in cells b2, b3, b4, b5, b6, b7, and b8, and we want to average those grades. To do that, click in any cell (b9 for this example but anywhere is fine!). Type an equal sign and the word average, and then type the cell range in parentheses. (The cell range is the first cell and the last cell in a series with a colon between them. Hit enter/return and the average will appear.

=average(b2:b8) is a "formula." It also could have been written =(b2+b3+b4+b5+b6+b7+b8)/6 -- the way we learned to average in school! That also is a formula.

The word average is "function." It tells Excel, "Hey, add up these cells and then divide by the total number of cells to get the average." Other Excel functions include max for maximum (What's the largest value among these cells?); min for minimum (What's the smallest value among these cells?); and sum to simply add up all cells.

Try formulas and functions yourself sometime, and see how easy they can make your life!

Next: Merging cells.