It is a tool that allows you to perform all kinds of mathematical operations on a sheet: spreadsheet. You can perform mathematical calculations and create tables with countless data and perform operations quickly and efficiently.
Spreadsheets contain multiple cells (columns and rows) in which we can insert numerical data, text, formulas, and charts.
Excel is a program developed by Microsoft and belongs to the Office package with other programs that are also very useful.
Excel is unquestionably the most widely used application in the financial areas of companies, without leaving aside any area that needs to process numerical data from small or large databases and wants to easily analyze and generate reports that support decision-making processes.
In Excel sheets we can apply different basic arithmetic calculations as complex as necessary, include statistical functions, simulate results according to the behavior of the variables that make up the calculations, among others.
Knowledge of Excel has been defined as a key skill in the world of work. In many cases, it is crucial when selecting a candidate.
All people who perform tasks related to economic sciences should master Excel as well as the knowledge of What is Excel and what applications does it have?; but the reality is that, despite being so widely used and having been in use for so many years, there is much to learn from this powerful software.
20% EXTRA DISCOUNT
Get started today and get fully certified in Excel 2019 with our course
- 100% online at your own pace
- Practical exercises
- Lifetime Access
- Certified endorsed
Apply the coupon [DARE] and get an extra 20% discount for only 100 students. Click the button and join!
What application does it have?
From preparing a budget for our personal finances to keeping track of a company's finances, Excel is the best option.
In the case of companies, it is always necessary to know the historical data and its evolution, with graphs and data analysis.
Knowledge of Excel and its functions will make your work easier, as well as ensuring the correct processing and analysis of business data.
FREE DOWNLOAD
We have this complementary material at your disposal so that you can learn the most used financial functions on the market and give you our conclusions on the use and importance of the Excel 2019 tool.
How was Excel born?
In 1982, Microsoft decided to enter the field of electronic spreadsheets with the development of Multiplan.
At that time, there were two well-positioned competitors on the market: SuperCalc from Sorcim and VisiCalc from VisiCorp. It was not easy for Microsoft to penetrate the market.
By 1983, they launched the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, which surprised everyone by quickly becoming the most widely used spreadsheet.
Microsoft saw how the Lotus spreadsheet was positioned in first place, so it began to work on the first version of Excel which was launched in 1985.
This first version was released only for the Macintosh platform and in 1987, two years later, Microsoft launched Excel 2.0, with a version for Windows.
From that moment on, the Microsoft spreadsheet began its growth until it became the most used spreadsheet of all time.
How is Excel composed?
Part of knowing what Excel is and what its applications are is understanding how this tool is composed. Excel is classified as a spreadsheet type computer program.
Spreadsheets were developed in the 1960s to simulate and replace paper accounting worksheets and thus help automate accounting in organizations.
SHEETS can have a total of 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns. The smallest unit of information in Excel is called a CELL and, in principle, it is recognized by its horizontal and vertical position. For example, cell A1 is the one that corresponds to the intersection of the first row with the first column, out of a total of 17,179,869,184 possible different intersections, that is, about 17 billion possible cells.
Numeric and alphanumeric data can be placed in each cell.
Excel recognizes whether a data is text or a number. If we enter text data, it will be aligned to the left of the cell; if it is numeric data, it will be aligned to the right.
Arithmetic operations
Different arithmetic calculations can be carried out in Excel with numerical data and using symbols such as addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*) and division (/), but we must not forget to put the equal symbol (=) before the formula so that Excel can carry out the corresponding calculation.
We can build formulas as complex as we want by combining several mathematical operations.
A super useful feature in Excel is that we can build formulas by entering multiple data into different cells and build the formula by referencing these cells, these links between cells are known as a reference.
For example, the following formula will divide the values in cells A1 and A2: =A1/A2
Applying functions
As we have detailed, we can create formulas using arithmetic operators, but Excel provides us with functions that are already designed and we only have to place the values or cells that we want in the operation and the function will take care of making the calculations and displaying the result of the same.
For example, let's use the Average function:
Using the AVERAGE function, we place the numbers we want to average, separated by a semicolon, for example; 4, 1 and 1; replacing the data in the formula gives us 2 as a result.
Excel includes a wide variety of functions and they are classified according to their functionality, among which are:
search and reference functions, text functions, statistical functions, database functions, date and time functions, among others.
To learn about all the categories of Excel functions, you can click on the Formulas tab and you will see a series of buttons with the names of the categories. If you click on any of the buttons, you will be able to see the functions that correspond to that category.
If you want to know the Ten Excel functions recommended by Harvard University, click here –> Ten Excel functions
You can also download our guide with more than 50 financial formulas by clicking here –> Complete Excel Guide for Finance
Data format
In any work area we find ourselves with the need to process different data. To display our data and properly identify each one of them, Excel allows us to organize them in a tabular form.
To do this, Excel offers us a wide variety of tools to format the data entered in each cell, from applying a style to each cell, applying conditional formats, as well as displaying the data as an Excel table.
Formats can be applied in a very simple way, thus facilitating the analysis and ordering of data.
Charts in Excel
Being able to easily convert our data into graphics is one of Excel's greatest advantages; it also offers different styles so that we can present the data in a simple and summarized way. This function allows us to quickly create reports that reflect the evolution or historical data of a series of data and helps in the interpretation of the information.
To explore the wide variety of charts you can create with Excel, click on the Insert tab and you will find the different types of charts available in Excel.
Excel versions
It is common to find information that refers to spreadsheets by their version, such as “Excel 2003”, “Excel 2007”, “Excel 2010” or “Excel 2019”.
You will even see readings that refer to the Microsoft spreadsheet under the name “Excel.” In other cases, it is called “Microsoft Excel” or “Office Excel” because it is part of the Office suite.
Each version of Excel incorporates improvements to existing functions and includes new features. Below we discuss some of the new features included in Excel 2019:
- CONCAT: improved version of the concatenate function
- IF.SET: evaluate multiple logical tests
- MAXIFS: obtains the maximum value from a list, depending on established criteria.
- MIN.IFS: obtains the minimum value of a list, depending on established criteria.
- CONCATENATE: concatenate a range of cells with a delimiter
- New graphic elements
Why learn to use Excel?
In today's world where we must carry out various activities in a short time, Excel has become an essential tool that facilitates the process of organizing, interpreting and analyzing data, not only in administrative and accounting areas, but in any area that handles data.
As we have seen in general, Excel is a powerful tool for processing data in any professional discipline. Although it has a large number of functionalities to explore, applying them progressively in your work environment will substantially improve your performance, making your tasks easier and faster to prepare.
For these reasons, it is almost inevitable that, regardless of the professional area you work in, you will most likely need to use Excel.
Now that you know what Excel is and what it can be used for, don't wait any longer! Decide to learn this fabulous tool and apply the countless benefits of the most widely used spreadsheet in the world.
Have you been thinking about learning more about what Excel is and what applications it has?
Join our Complete Excel course from Basic to Advanced where you will learn step by step how to use this powerful tool
Courses that may interest you
Do you want to learn more about financial tools? Check out our courses on Excel 2019 for Finance, Excel 2019: Power Pivot , and Advanced Dashboard with Power BI.
